Best You Ever Had
by charrrmed
Summary: How he became an Alpha, and she became a Goddess, and they became a lot more than friends. AU S4 from 4.08. Story artwork by piperblue24.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Season 1 and 2 happened during the group's (minus Jer) sophomore year, season 3 Junior, and season 4 is senior year. **

**Part 1: Collide**

Her magic crawled around the foundation of the ramshackle barn and threatened to take it apart. She was vibrating with power that needed a target. She wanted the Hybrid that had thrown her into the bookcase, and then she wanted the one that had taken Caroline, and _then_ she wanted the one who had given the order.

She barged in and spotted Caroline immediately. She was chained up and tear-streaked, and she was being guarded by the one who had thrown her into the bookcase. She raised her first and locked onto his brain cells.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tyler demanded.

She screamed, "_Eripui tibi est sanguis corruas! Qui furatus est sanguis extremum! Incendia! Donec cinis es nisi ardeat!_"

"Stop!" Tyler grabbed her and sped out of the shed just as flames burst out of the young man's head and engulfed it.

Caroline screamed and flinched from the proximity of the fire that quickly spread to the rest of his body. Elena rushed to free her from her bindings, and the other Hybrids scrambled for anything that would put out the fire and save their comrade.

Bonnie's attention was on her next target. Until Tyler bumrushed her.

She was thrown to the ground, far enough from the shed. She sprang to her feet and faced Tyler.

"Get the hell out of my way."

"You just _killed_ someone."

"And I have two more in there."

"You're gonna have to get through me."

"You think that'll be difficult?"

"I plan to make it."

As dark as it was, Bonnie caught the mutation of his eyes and the descent of two pairs of deadly teeth. Her shock gave way to a chuckle. "Are you going to attack me, Tyler?"

"I was responsible for him."

"You fell down on the job. He attacked me and kidnapped your girlfriend. _Get _out of my way."

"Bonnie, this isn't you."

"You don't know me." She flung him as far to her right as her power could reach. She didn't get three steps toward the shed before three Hybrids flanked her. They had run out of the shed and used the surrounding trees for cover as they circled her.

"I'm not looking for a blood bath," she said with a little smile, making it clear that she was nevertheless open to the option.

"We are," the one in front of her smiled back. He was the one who had grabbed Caroline.

She expected him to make a beeline for her, but the attack came from the one standing to her left. Her head hit the ground, and she was disoriented, but she lashed out with her powers, operating on instinct instead of sight and sound. The wind rose up in a torrent as she sent her power spiraling into the earth itself and channeled it. She hissed between clenched teeth, "_Liga, alligat, nisu._" The only time a situation had overwhelmed her ability to think of a spell was the night her mother was turned into a vampire. That would never happen to her again.

"No more sp-"

She blinked, her vision going from blurry to focused in time for her to see the Hybrid get tackled off of her.

"I'm handling this! _Stand down_."

She rolled onto her stomach and registered the screaming when Tyler dragged her to her feet, disorienting her again for just a moment.

"_Stop it_," he commanded, his face still that of a monster and animal hybrid.

"_Why?_" She looked at her handy work. The other two Hybrids had been thrown together, bound, and were slowly being welded together, hip first. Their skin had to boil hot enough to melt first, hence the screaming.

Her scream joined theirs when her arm was suddenly twisted at an unnatural angle behind her back.

"Throw me away again and slash your on neck," Tyler threatened as the claws of his other hand encircled her neck. "I'm not gonna let you kill them." He dug his nails into the skin to let her know how serious he was.

"I didn't start this," she panted. Chancing it, she shot him with an aneurysm. It got him to free her arm, but he exchanged it for a full chokehold.

"Tyler! What the hell are you doing?!" Elena demanded as the rest of them ran up to the scene.

The wind became more violent as her anger grew. She delved deeper into the element she used least: earth. Evidence of the magic painted her face with black roots. She would pick up that tool shed and drop it on him if she had to. She pushed her hand into his face and ripped into his brain. He screamed and his hold on her neck loosened.

"Tyler!" Kim yelled as she got closer.

Tyler snatched her hand off his face and yelled at the fast approaching group, "Stay out of this!" His growl rose above her howling winds and the Hybrids halted.

He stepped into Bonnie's space, his hand still around her throat. "_I can control them_."

"You're _failing_ so far," she spat.

He suddenly let go and turned from her to address the group. "Do you see this? Do you see that?" he asked, pointing at the two Hybrids that were still bleeding into each other. "_You _did this," he said to Kim. "I gave you your freedom and what do you do with it? You make yourselves _threats_. You _piss_ off a witch. You're all running up here, but are you prepared to lose? Because the odds aren't looking good! Dylan is dead! Cohen and Lina are on their way! And all of this because you think I failed to protect Chris?! Does this look better? I failed one person, Kim, and you failed _three_! In one fucking night! I'm not gonna protect you all from stupid shit. I will fight for you, but I will _not_ protect you from your own actions. We're supposed to be working together! If you want to kidnap, torture, and terrorize in the time it takes for us to do what we need to do, then by all fucking means line yourselves up right now so she can take you out.

If you want to do something better with your time," he said and changed his voice back to normal, "If you want to be better than what Klaus made you, then _stop_. And _focus_. _Chris_ would've never done _any_ of this! So what's it gonna be?"

The Hybrids remained silent and lowered their gaze. Tyler didn't need to turn to know the Hybrid standing behind him, Adrian, the one he'd tackled off of Bonnie, the one who'd grabbed Caroline, was acquiescing, too.

Tyler turned to her and walked back into her space. She inclined her head curiously when a new color pooled into his eyes as he came up. The yellow-red was now yellow-red-black.

"Stop it," Tyler said. He swallowed his emotions. "Put them out of their misery."

She quieted the chaotic wind to a breeze, "And if they get out of line again?"

"I'll handle it."

"No, I will," she said smoothly. His handling of it would probably involve another inspirational speech. If she got wind of them causing any harm to anyone in town, she would kill them. And she knew that Tyler knew it.

"_We_ will," Tyler enforced.

Bonnie cocked her head. She wasn't into striking a disciplinary partnership.

"Alpha," Kim breathed.

Both turned to look at her. All of the Hybrids had kneeled to the ground. They looked at each other, and Bonnie could tell that he had not anticipated the reaction, even though he looked at her steadily.

She walked around him to the two screaming Hybrids who now shared one set of knees. "_Omne quod est, quod fuit. Sint duo existit duo. Qui sanam legem Naturae. Qui sanam legem Naturae._"

Turning to Tyler, she said, "Becoming two will be just as painful as becoming one." She found Elena, who was supporting Caroline to the left of the crowd. "Let's get out of here."

She flinched when she became aware of the throbbing in her shoulder's socket. She rested her left arm in her right hand for support. Tyler ignored it.

Bonnie left the crowd and headed to her car. She didn't acknowledge Caroline leaving Elena to go to Tyler's arms. She was cutting on the ignition when Elena offered to drive and informed her that Caroline wanted to stay behind.

* * *

Two weeks later, Tyler walked into Mystic Fall High's television production classroom and rolled his eyes when he saw who was there. Just his luck. The door closed gently behind him until the loud bang when it hit the wall.

Bonnie looked up and managed to hide her surprise at who she saw. "Great. A friend," she deadpanned as she turned her phone in her hand.

"I'm not here as your friend. But thanks for assuming I'm just in detention all the time. I'm here as your supervisor."

"Excuse me?"

"Mrs. Shaw had to leave early. Family emergency."

"So she put _you_ in charge?"

"One of the few teachers who actually get me."

"You mean who actually like you. So I'm leaving now." She grabbed her messenger bag and grey peacoat and stood.

"Uh no?" Tyler answered with a step forward. "Ms. Rabkin is supervising me supervising you."

Bonnie let out a long sigh and dropped back down in her seat.

A long silence passed between them. This was the first time they'd seen each other since that night, and Bonnie sure wasn't looking forward to three hours of being _supervised_ by him.

"Why are you in detention? Finally decided to start living? It's a little late; we graduate in five months."

"Still stuck on _Bonnie's not as exciting as her friends_? Very freshman year of you."

"And your comebacks still suck."

"My comebacks depend on the effort put in the insults, so."

Tyler took a deep breath and leaned back on the desk. Bonnie propped her chin on her left fist and scrolled all the way to the left on her phone, then all the way to the right. All the way to the left. All the way to the right.

The clock ticked on by.

"Please tell me you don't have two Hybrid bodyguards out there ready to jump me?" she murmured, still scrolling through her phone.

"Which part of wanting you to _not_ kill off my pack would that be?"

"I dunno. Just a thought that came to mind. And I'm not trying to kill off your _pack_. You make me sound like the enemy," she objected and finally looked up at him. He was hot. Standing there with his arms crossed, staring at her, his jaw tight, cheekbones poking out, he was very very hot. Indigo patched tee shirt with a white bull's head, hot. It cut off his muscles very nicely.

He'd been on her radar since she watched him rise in challenge to her and not just because she'd been wondering what he was going to do next as an _Alpha_. She'd liked the color of his eyes once she'd gotten far enough away to ruminate. His whole face had been a work of art that night.

Tyler didn't address her complaint. "Your shoulder's healed."

"It wasn't broken. Just very uncomfortable for a day."

He wasn't going to apologize. She didn't seem ready to apologize for the horrendous _pain_ she'd inflicted on his head.

"I trust those two are doing fine?"

"Fully healed," he reported.

Silence.

"Did you really not bring anything to amuse yourself with? Are you just gonna stand there and stare at me for the next two hours and….forty-five minutes?"

"Who says I'm staring at you?"

Bonnie took a breath and went back to scrolling.

"I have my phone," he said.

Silence.

He didn't pull out his phone. He kept thinking about being in this room, and then he was thinking about that night, and then he was in this room again, and then….and then yes he did look at her. She was pouting. Or frowning. Or some nice mélange of both. She was also wearing short black boots and black skinny jeans. From what he could see, she also wore a loose-fitting and very light pink shirt with rolled up sleeves and a necklace with pale gold beads that hung past her breasts. A brown lip gloss that closely matched her skin shined on her lips. Her hair was hanging a little past her collarbones. It was shorter than he remembered, not that he could remember the last time he'd really looked at her.

Actually, that was a lie. But why think about that now?

Instead, he chose to think that the last time he'd taken a good look at Bonnie was when she'd been chanting to put Klaus in his body. That seemed like it happened two years ago.

Tyler walked past her to open the two windows in the back of the classroom.

"Alpha," Bonnie said like she was trying to see how the word tasted. "I never pictured you for a leader. Other than the I'm in this leadership position because my daddy had it and his daddy before him and his daddy before him, of course."

She looked up from the phone and straightened slowly when she heard him come up behind her, though she didn't turn to look at him.

It was a nice try, but she was tense with anticipation of how he might retaliate. Tyler saw it flying off her body in waves. He put one hand on the back of her chair and the other on the table. He leaned down next to her ear and said, "I never pictured you for a doormat."

Her upper lip twitched. She slowly turned her to him and smiled acerbically. "It was beaten into me."

"So was my leadership."

Her smile faltered just a little. Wasn't that ironic? Life had beaten the fire out of her but _into_ Tyler.

Tyler softened just a little. She looked sad enough that he wanted to know what she was seeing in his eyes. Her entire face was striking, and he looked at her lips when she swallowed.

They heard the door unlatch and sprang apart.

Bonnie turned so fast that she almost jostled her eyeballs from their sockets. "Jeremy," she breathed. There was no chance of her keeping the surprise out of her voice.

"Hey," he greeted slowly and looked at Tyler who tried hard not to assuage the weird guilt he felt by crossing his arms.

Jeremy stood exactly on the threshold, the door still in his hand.

"What are you doing here?" Bonnie asked. "Don't tell me you have detention, too," she smiled. _Lame_.

"Um. You said you were here alone. So….I thought I'd come hang out until I got kicked out. But…."

"He's supervising," Bonnie explained. Jeremy was looking at Tyler again, but she continued. "Mrs. Shaw had an emergency, so she asked him to…."

"Right." He looked at her again. "I'm gonna go. I mean. You look…."

"I'm fine," she nodded. "Thanks for stopping by."

Jeremy pursed his lips and nodded. He stepped out and closed the door behind him.

Bonnie took a deep breath and released the feeling that she'd gotten caught doing something she shouldn't have been doing. She hadn't been doing anything.

"Aren't you gonna go after him?" Tyler asked non-committally.

She was tired of him standing behind her. "Why would I?"

"Isn't he your….something? Last I heard you guys were talking again."

"We're gossip fodder now?"

"Caroline."

"Yeah well, talking isn't….anything concrete."

"Well you're letting your chance for _concrete_ get away," he said, briefly leaning down to her ear again.

Bonnie craned her head away from him.

Tyler walked back to the front and leaned on the desk. She smelled good. Really good. Linger in your nose for the rest of the day good.

She smiled but found nothing humorous about the current topic. "There's no chance for anything."

"Why not?"

"Can we talk about something else? How's Caroline? Is she fully recuperated?"

"Isn't she your best friend?"

Bonnie sighed with a roll of her eyes and went back to her phone.

"She's doing okay." He had felt uncomfortable taking care of Caroline that night. He'd been worried about her and had been glad that she was safe, but his focus had been split. He'd not so guiltily wished she'd gone with Elena and Bonnie so that he could figure things out with his sudden new pack. Instead he'd ended up sending them off in order to comfort her.

"She's getting ready for the Christmas Eve Festival," he added.

"That's nice. You guys are good," she said distractedly. She was scrolling through her phone as if she didn't know what apps she had in there. It was just something to do to help her mind wander.

"Why wouldn't we be? Did she say something?"

"What?" She looked up at him.

"_Did she say something?_ About us."

"Uh….no? She doesn't say anything about you anymore unless she's complaining."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't take it like that. She's not complaining about _you_. More like complaining about not being able to be _with_ you: oh he's with Klaus, oh he's off in the mountains, oh this and that. I want him; I want him; I want him. It's more about her wanting you. She used to talk about you guys' happiness and the stuff you guys were doing, but I guess the newness wore off. Not that I'm complaining, because you guys heated up around the time me and Jeremy broke off, so new relationship butterflies and giggles weren't exactly what I wanted to hear at the time."

For some reason, the nature of Caroline's complaints didn't make him feel better. Sure they were about wishing he was with her, but….something about it made him feel….some type of way.

Bonnie shifted in her seat and sighed.

"Are you going to the Christmas Eve Festival?" he asked.

"Probably. With my dad." She laid her head down and went to sleep.

* * *

She woke up and heard the ugliest of snorts and _hoped_ it was just her imagination, because it sounded like it came from her.

As was usual when she fell asleep in public, she perused the surface to make sure she hadn't drooled. She didn't usually drool. But one can never be confident when sleeping in public.

The desk was dry so she straightened fully. And looked at the clock. "You're kidding. How long was I asleep?" He'd finally taken a seat behind the desk.

"Like….17 minutes," Tyler answered while clicking the screen to get a hint about his next move in Freecell Solitaire. _No more moves._ He exited the game and opened something else.

"How did I only sleep for 17 minutes? It felt like at least an hour. God I'm tired."

Tyler stood and asked, "Did you know you snore?"

"I don't snore." She sniffed.

Tyler approached her. "Do." He played the audio he'd pulled up.

Bonnie stuck her lips out. That was definitely her snoring. Why did it sound so close? "Did you stand next to me to record this?"

"Yeah," Tyler answered. He smiled his first genuine smile since Chris' death.

"That's rude."

"Do you make a habit of moaning right before you wake up?" he asked as he walked back to the desk. He reclaimed the leaning position.

This is what she hated about falling asleep in public. She had no control over what her body did and anyone could bear witness. "Only when I'm exhausted," she answered.

"I thought maybe you were having an interesting dream."

She narrowed her eyes to slits, and he gave her a smile that would win her vote if he ever decided to follow his father into politics. She put her arms and legs forward and curved her back, stretching her body. A yawn made it's way out of her.

"What's got you so tired?" he asked.

"I'm the only witch in town."

"Right." In the days since their confrontation, he's been trying not to think of ways she could really help in his quest to put Klaus down. Hayley's been talking to him about a witch that she knows. In the beginning, his plan was to kill Klaus by himself. Hayley had convinced him to recruit the others, whereas his original intention where breaking their sire bond was concerned was simply to free them. He'd observed and assessed every Hybrid as he freed them and taken the risk of telling them his plans for Klaus. There were two Hybrids who were vicious enough in their own right that Klaus never had to force them to do anything, so he'd judged them to be lost causes. Now he had a pack. He hadn't thought about adding anyone else until Hayley started talking about adding a different kind of supernatural muscle in the last week. She's been talking about a witch she knows, but after what he saw Bonnie do, his choice has been veering toward her.

"Was that guy your friend?" Bonnie asked.

Tyler raised his eyebrows. "Uh," he started when he realized who she was referring to. "Not really. None of them are my friends. Klaus used to, or Klaus _does_, have dinner with all of us every Sunday. Minus me since he found out I broke my bond. It's part of his bullshit family agenda. But we don't hang out outside of that. Until I started trying to free them. I made them all these promises. I made _him_ all these promises. He only did what he did because it's all he's known for almost a year."

"Are you kidding? He got his freedom and the first thing he did with it was hurt three people. So he was freed from bondage and took full advantage of being a vampire."

"Hybrid."

"Right. Perfect mix of vampire and werewolf, which last I heard is supposed to give you perfect _control_ over your instincts."

"He was part animal. A werewolf. It wasn't about vampire instinct; it was a play for power, for leadership and not even _his_ leadership, and why am I even explaining this to you?" He asked, agitated.

"I have no idea, especially since it seriously sounds like you're trying to excuse what they did."

"I'm not. But _murder_? Aren't you best friends with Damon Salvatore?"

"Excuse you? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Last _I_ heard, he turned your mother into a vampire. So if this was about getting back at someone who hurt you, who did bad, then why is _he_ still alive?"

"Tyler? If you say another word, I swear to God I will leave, and if you make an attempt to get in my way, we _will_ have a repeat of that night."

Tyler flexed his jaw, his cheekbones sinking, and straightened. He dropped his phone on the desk with a loud thud and walked around to the chair behind it.

"You know what?" Bonnie stood and grabbed her bag, phone and jacket. She slung the bag over shoulder and headed for the door.

Tyler didn't leave his position of slouching in the chair. He turned his neck to look at her when she reached the door. "And what the hell am I supposed to say to Ms. Baskin?"

"Compel her," Bonnie snapped. "You want me to believe you're the only one who doesn't use that little trick?"

She shoved the door open and left.


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2: A Vision in Black**

It was a week and a half later, and Bonnie sat with her hands on her lap and wondered if there was a breeze in the cool air tonight and there was just way too many people walking around for her to feel it.

The town square was spectacularly lit, but she'd found herself a bench in one of the few relatively dark spots. She had no idea how whoever had been hired to put this whole thing together managed to make the whole square feel like one big cozy living room, but that was the effect she got. She felt that she appreciated this Christmas Eve festival more because she'd skipped out on last year's. She was in a better place this year. No one she cared about had died before Christmas. Well, Elena had died. But that was more of a crushing disappointment than a soul-destroying heartbreak.

Anyways, she was having a good time. She'd mostly spoken to people who weren't her friends, which helped. She liked having this moment by herself. She was appreciative of the fact that she actually wasn't ruminating on everything that was wrong with her life, despite happened with Jeremy the night prior.

No, she was enjoying how she looked instead. Wearing black on Christmas Eve wasn't typical. She couldn't remember if she'd ever done it before. But she simply could _not_ have turned this dress away. Caroline had said it had a certain charm when she'd seen her earlier. Bonnie felt it had more than charm. It was sexy and sultry. It was a long maxi dress with a tiered, sheer, crinkled chiffon skirt she could swirl around if she wanted (and she had); it went past her ankles but didn't touch the floor. The part holding her chest was embroidered with tiny metal sequins in the front and the back. The whole thing was held up by very thin but comfortable spaghetti straps. She'd accessorized it with two silver bangles on her right arm and a pale gold necklace that draped down to the very top of her cleavage and gave the illusion at first glance that she was wearing at least three necklaces. Her feet were encased in black heels with straps that began just below her calves. She'd curled her hair and pulled it up in a messy updo with tendrils running down the right side of her face.

She felt like she owned Christmas.

Savage Garden started playing softly over the speakers, and she swayed to _Truly Madly Deeply_.

"Bonnie."

She opened her eyes. Tyler was standing to her right. "Hi."

Tyler inhaled and walked over to sit on her left. "I need to ask you about the cure."

"Merry Christmas."

"You're going after it?"

"Why are you asking?" she asked, still swaying to the last notes of the song. "I didn't even know that was on your radar."

"Stefan and Caroline came to talk to me about it an hour ago. It's on Klaus' radar, so they want me to-" He cleared his throat. Caroline went and told Stefan about his plan, but he didn't know how much Bonnie knew. "They said Klaus can help them. Are you seriously looking for this thing?"

She turned in her seat to face him. "Something tells me you don't want me to."

"A cure for every vampire? What, are you gonna take a survey to find out who wants it or are you just gonna force it on everyone?"

Bonnie narrowed her eyes. "Hold on, are you telling me you _don't_ want to be cured?"

"No," he said as if the idea of being cured was preposterous.

"Tyler, you were killed."

"I know the history. After all the shit I've been through, do you really think I can just go back to being a werewolf and make it all meaningless?"

"I have no intention of absolving every vampire on earth of the crimes they've committed."

"So you're not looking for it?"

"I didn't say that. If Stefan and Damon or Klaus figure it out, then I'll go. I'll have no choice."

Tyler thought that was bullshit, but he kept it to himself.

Bonnie turned and faced forward.

"What happens if it's something that can't work unless you apply it to _everyone_?" he asked.

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."

Tyler tightened his lips in frustration. He watched the people walking past them and then he slowly turned his head to look behind them so he could give Bonnie a once-over. She looked great. Not very Christmas-y but also kind of Christmas-y. He liked the hint of legs the sheer material of her skirt allowed. She wore jeans so often. He couldn't remember the last time her bare legs had been on display.

When she'd turned to face him, he'd noticed that her necklace had a green centerpiece that kind of matched his dress shirt.

"Looking for someone?" Bonnie asked.

"What? No." He turned his head to the front, but his body still faced her.

Bonnie frowned when a thought occurred to her. She looked at Tyler and asked, "Do Stefan and Caroline want you to snoop through Klaus' things to find out if he's hiding anything?"

"No."

Clearly an elaboration wasn't on its way. He was looking at the crowd and frowning. "What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing," he answered. "A lot of stuff."

"Did you and Caroline fight about this?"

"If you want to call it that," he said and looked at her. She was truly radiant tonight. Among the sea of white, red, and, yes, green outfits, she was a vision in black. It made him feel like she was apart from the celebration; as if, unlike the rest of them, her Christmas wasn't tomorrow. Maybe it was today. Maybe it had been yesterday. Maybe it was every day or whenever she wanted.

"She disagrees with me, sided with Stefan. And I just know she's gonna try to change my mind."

"I know how Caroline became a vampire. I'm not surprised she wants to be human again."

"Except she doesn't. She and Stefan were talking about Elena. No one else. Caroline sometimes misses being human, but….I don't know. We haven't talked about it since we first got together. Maybe she's changed her mind about not wanting to go back."

"Does she know you don't want to go back? Or did she know before?"

"I was excited about being a Hybrid when I was first turned, but that went south. I think she figures because of what I've gone through, I'd want to go back to being a werewolf. But that's not how she sold it to me. She talked about-"

"Elena. Right."

Right. Elena was why he doubted Bonnie would hesitate to turn every single vampire into a human again if she had to. So he made another plea for his case. "I don't think you should do it. When you find it, and when you're thinking about turning everyone back, remember that not everyone wants it."

"No one in your pack wants it?"

"I don't know." He squeezed his eyes. "Some of them were there when Caroline and Stefan came to me about it. Stefan got kind of threatening."

Bonnie curled her lip in disgust.

"Talk about a problem I don't need," he muttered.

"You don't want your pack to want the cure?"

"We're supposed to be-" He cut himself off.

Bonnie faced forward. She wasn't going to beg him for information.

"Listen," he started. "I know you care about Elena; I know she means a lot to you-"

"Tyler?" she cut him off with a sharp turn of her head. "I know you think I'm a doormat, but if there's a cure for vampirysm, I'm not _giving_ it to Elena. Least of all if there's only _one_." She faced forward again. He was ruining her good time.

"You're looking for it….for your mom," Tyler realized.

"Good thing no one can compel that out of you. I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell Caroline. No one knows except Jeremy."

"Jeremy-"

"Can't be compelled anymore," she cut him off. "I guess that hadn't gotten to you yet."

He and Caroline haven't exactly lied in bed and shared information since Chris died. Not since the night he'd gotten shot by the overzealous Hunter, really.

"Your secret's safe with me," he said.

"It might not even be real," Bonnie said with a shake of her head.

He turned his body to face the crowd. "I think that's why they need Klaus."

They sat together in silence. Bonnie's forehead was still tense, and Tyler was playing out his apology in his head.

"You're not a doormat," he said.

"Oh please," she said with a bitter smile. "Don't try to apologize now; it's a little insulting."

"I'm serious." He faced her profile and put his arm on the back of the bench again. "You said something to hurt me, so I said something to hurt you back."

She turned her neck to look at him. "Were you _hurt_ by what I said, Tyler?" Acid dripped from her voice.

"Making me feel like I couldn't be shit? Let's just say it was a little familiar." His tone quickly copied hers.

Bonnie faced forward again.

Tyler closed his eyes and rubbed them. "I didn't think you were trying to hurt me," he admitted. "I think you were being a smartass."

Bonnie stretched her mouth into a plastic smile. "That's what I thought."

"I wasn't hurt. I was annoyed, so….I did want to hurt you."

Bonnie blew air out of her mouth, the shell of a chuckle.

"I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize."

"I _am_ apologizing. I'm sorry. I'm not saying I don't think you could do better; I do. You have a lot of power. I've seen it three times now."

"Three times?" She scrunched her face skeptically.

"Homecoming night junior year, the possession, and that night. You have a lot of power; you just….seem to choose not to use it. But you can stand up any time you want to."

"No one would be comfortable with me standing up, Tyler."

"So you choose to be uncomfortable in their place?"

Her face softened at that.

"Look at me."

She shook her head. Her ears were tickling her, and she wished all of her tears away.

"Bonnie," he called her softly.

"I forgive you, Tyler," she said sullenly.

"You're not looking at me."

She took a deep breath and looked at him. She might as well have said _there, happy?_

Tyler was so familiar with his own pain. He'd never really been faced with someone else's before. Caroline had been sad plenty of times, sure. She's cried. But she always recovers. Her pain and sadness weren't ongoing, these things that linger and stir just below the surface, always. And while he and his pack shared an experience, they didn't sit around pouring their hearts out to each other. They'd lost Chris, but Kim's reaction had been less about wanting revenge for someone who didn't deserve to die and more about filling what she perceived to be a vacuum. He and the pack weren't close.

But here he was faced with Bonnie's sadness, a sadness that had been borne of his callous twisting of something that pained her. Her sadness looked different from his own. It looked….sweeter, softer, a deception considering the concentrated fury she'd displayed that night. But her sadness looked full of possibilities for healing.

She faced forward again.

He cupped her cheek and turned her attention back to him and kissed her.

It was a shock to Bonnie's system. She frowned in surprise, but the softness and fullness of his lips erased her frown, and she abandoned herself to the kiss, and it felt very good.

Tyler pulled away and smiled at the fact that her eyes remained closed. She opened them, and he saw the question in her eyes. He kissed her again before she could voice it. This time he moved against her, capturing and releasing her top lip while she took care of his bottom lip. Bonnie softened into him, and he gathered her body into his arms. She traced her hand up the back of his neck and further melted into him when he licked the inside left corner of her mouth.

Tyler sighed. If he pulled her any closer, she'd be sitting on his lap. And the longer they kissed, her lipgloss rubbing off her lips and onto his, the farther away his sense of decorum went.

Bonnie was moaning now. She was positive that sound was coming from her. She couldn't help it. The kiss reached into something deep inside her. He kissed her like stopping wasn't an option, like he'd been waiting to kiss her, like he was already an expert at kissing _her_. And he was a damn good kisser.

Tyler reached under her knees so that they rested on his arm. Step 1. The way she gripped his face turned him on. All ten fingers were steepled on his skin and her palms touched his cheeks. She held his face as if she wanted to make sure she got all of him. He wanted to _give_ her all of him. Aside from trying not to wonder how much she would add to his pack were she to join, he'd also been trying not to involve her in his thoughts about Alpha Sex. He was in a new territory, so naturally he wondered what about him was going to change.

He slid his hand down between her back and the bench and wrapped it around her torso. Step 2.

Bonnie's blood cooled when a scream rang out from the crowd. She straightened her back in fear and panic and gasped out of the kiss. His reaction matched hers. She swiveled around in search of the distress.

"You jackass!" she heard a woman chastise and a man's laughter followed. Great. Someone had just gotten the crap scared out of them, that was all.

"Jesus," she exhaled and put a hand over her racing heart.

Tyler raised his eyebrows in agreement. He licked his lips and tasted her lip gloss. It was pleasant, not a strong flavor.

Bonnie looked at him. His lips were shiny. She wiped it away and looked around. "We just….we….we just kissed. We were making out."

Tyler grinned.

"Are you forgetting your girlfriend's here?"

"Yes? I mean you pretty much knocked every thought out of my mind."

Her thumb paused on his upper lip. She would replay that comment later. "I saw her earlier. I don't know where she is, but I know she's around."

Tyler stared at her.

Was he going to say anything, or did he plan on letting her say all of the appropriate things all by herself? She'd been ready for him to slide his hand down her underwear for goodness sake.

She faced forward again because clearly looking at him was not helping. She swiped her curls behind her ear and tried to calm her body down.

Her skin was giving off something different now. Not tension like in the classroom a week and a half ago. It was a mix of things, some of them still forming: she was definitely excited from both the scream and their kiss. She was relaxed, not sitting ramrod straight like she was before the kiss when she'd been upset. And the more her chest heaved, the clearer the arousal signals flying off her skin became. What he didn't pick up from her, despite the words coming out of her mouth, was shame.

He cupped her face and turned her attention to him.

"We can't do it again," she said softly when he leaned into her.

He traced her bottom lip and took off more of her lip gloss.

She turned her lips into his thumb and said, "Tyler, please."

She didn't move away. Her resolve was beyond flimsy. He smiled. "You're beautiful."

That got her to look at him.

"I mean it. You look beautiful tonight, and I've been thinking about it."

She smiled. "You look great, too. Handsome. I like the shirt."

"It matches your necklace," he said and took his hand off her face.

She looked at the piece and grabbed it. "It does," she said with a smile.

They faced the crowd and sat in silence.

"Jeremy pretty much told me he still has feelings for me. Yesterday," she elaborated.

He looked at her profile. "Is that a good thing?"

She chuckled. "It's a frustrating thing. I was happy for a second. Just one second. And then I was confused, and then…."

Tyler waited.

"I don't know. I feel like I was ready before. Back when we broke up and for a while after that. He never said anything like this. But now he's ready? And what, I'm supposed to have been waiting this whole time?"

"Have you?"

"No," she answered and looked at him. "When things aren't working out for me, I move on from them. Even if I'm physically there, mentally and emotionally I move on. And considering all the crap that's happened to me since our breakup….those helped. I'm not there anymore, and...I don't know if I want to be. He's a friend. He makes me feel….nice. I still love him in that sense. I know he cares. But going back there….I just don't know if I feel it. It doesn't feel like before."

"Seeing us in the classroom probably inspired him," he said.

"It wasn't that. Or maybe it was. He's a Hunter now. Like the guy who shot you? Long story short, I was important in helping him gain some control, and I couldn't have been if he didn't have some….very strong feelings for me. It just….doesn't feel like what I need right now."

"What do you need right now?" he asked.

She smiled and shook her head. "I don't know. Or I do and I just don't know how to put it into words." But kissing Tyler, this boy who was taken, had definitely cemented her feeling that she wasn't interested in going back there with Jeremy.

They sat in silence again. They sat closer than they were supposed to and looked at the talking, laughing, marveling crowd.

"I'm not….completely sure what I'm doing," Tyler said.

Bonnie looked at him, so he looked at her.

"I can't go into detail, but….I'm starting to question what I'm doing. Something doesn't feel right. This girl, Hayley, I don't think you've ever seen her-"

"Caroline talked about her."

Of course. "I met her while breaking my bond. She helped me through it when I was ready to throw in the towel and just stay crippled. She motivated me and helped me fight. But now…."

"Now?"

"The longer I'm an Alpha, the more different I feel about her. We're working together, and she's a lot of help, but sometimes….I get this feeling like she's trying to run things for me. And I'm not talking about her being overly helpful. She wants me to trust her, and I swear every time she tells me to, something in me…."

"Shudders? Backs away? Slows down? Stands at attention?"

"All of the above."

She smiled. "That's your instinct, Tyler."

"It could be me doubting I can really do this. I never saw myself as a leader either. Football was one thing, but even then it's not like I was the quarterback."

"Maybe. But this is about Klaus, right? Who knows him better than you? Don't doubt everything you've been through. What you said earlier? _Nothing_ could make what you've been through meaningless: not becoming a werewolf again, absolutely nothing. You've been up close and personal with Klaus. He's shown that he can't get enough of you. If you're questioning anything relating to him, then it's probably with good reason. Because you _know_. Trust in the fact that you know. Trust….your experience. Don't ignore your instincts, Tyler. It very easily becomes a habit. Trust me."

"You ignore your instincts?"

"On a daily basis. Doormat, remember?"

"Hey."

"I know. That wasn't toward you. Klaus is alive because I ignored my instincts. I freed his mother and my mom payed the price because I ignored my instincts and opened that coffin. She even told me not to open it, and I ignored that, too. That's how bad it gets. Don't let that happen to you."

"What do your instincts tell you about the cure?"

"To ignore everyone telling me to find it for Elena."

"So your instincts haven't dulled."

She smiled. "No. And I do trust them. It's just become very easy to do what everyone else wants, no matter how many times or how severely I lose out in the end."

"If you need backup on this cure thing, I'll support you," he promised. "I already told Stefan no. I can tell him no for you."

She smiled. "Thanks. I'll remember that. But not to tell Stefan no. I don't want him to hear no from me. We're all gonna find the cure. And then I'm gonna do what I want with it. I don't want any in-fighting or tension before that."

Tyler smiled. Then he said, "I don't trust her." Talking to someone else helped him say it out loud. "Something doesn't feel right."

"That's because something's not right."

Tyler nodded. That wasn't something he'd ever experienced since this whole Hybrid thing started: someone who agreed with him and _helped_ him be sure of what he felt. Caroline always cautioned him against taking actions he felt he needed to take. He always either had to convince her or do it anyway and hope she'd come around, which _always_ made him question whether he was doing the right thing or not. But Caroline always needed assurance and reassurance. Not since when he'd first transitioned into a werewolf had she ever been more sure of something than he was. He'd always thought the discomfort and lack of confidence stemmed from him and him alone. He always thought that she just worried (and he knew she did).

It was nice to hear something different.

And Hayley: he'd seen less of her since he became an Alpha, even though she was still staying at his house. She was always gone, so they mostly talked on the phone now, but she was starting to have an alternative for every idea he put forward, as if his weren't good enough, and for the past two or more weeks she's been telling him to free the Hybrids who were still loyal to Klaus. She's been making him question himself and after airing it out with Bonnie, Hayley's behavior was officially on his nerve. He needed to talk to her about it.

"Come with me," he said to Bonnie.

Bonnie stood and began to follow him. "Where are we going?" she asked loudly over the music.

Tyler turned to answer her so that he wouldn't have to raise his voice. "Somewhere private."

"Why?"

Tyler raised his brows and cocked his head forward.

Bonnie bit her smile. "We can't do that. I know you and Caroline aren't in a good place over this cure thing, but it'll pass. It's temporary."

Tyler put his hands in his pockets and stepped closer to her. The cure was only the latest example of the huge difference of opinion that suddenly existed between him and Caroline. But that wasn't what he wanted to talk about.

"I want to have sex with you," he declared.

The fact that he looked right into her eyes when he said it made Bonnie's stomach flip so hard she had to place a hand over it.

"I wanted to yesterday," he continued and glanced at her parted lips. "The day before yesterday, in detention a little bit, and even-"

Bonnie slowly raised her brows as she fathomed the rest of that sentence. "The night we fought?"

"I've relabeled it a _negotiation_."

She closed her eyes and laughed. It was kind of messed up. She'd killed one of his teammates. And she knew Tyler wasn't into that kind of morbid stuff. Which was why she was into him being into it. It wasn't exactly the kind of impression she'd been looking to leave that night, but she sure wasn't going to complain about this bonus.

Tyler wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him. "Tonight, Bonnie. Follow me if you want to."

He turned and made his way through the crowd. Bonnie took two steps to follow him then stopped when a reminder knocked her back: Jeremy had cheated on her.

Jeremy had cheated on her; Jeremy had cheated on her; Jeremy had cheated on her. Jeremy had cheated on her.

She swallowed. She was losing sight of Tyler in the throng of people.

She'd been cheated on. And she hated that she was thinking about this now instead of-

"What was that?"

She was so deep in her inner battle while simultaneously trying to see Tyler that she didn't register the voice. It was a miracle she didn't jump out of her skin when she saw who it was. Her heart didn't even skip a beat, though she _was_ surprised.

"Caroline."

"Please tell me I was seeing things," Caroline said with a genuine smile. She couldn't help but be genuine. She wasn't sure what to feel. It was atypical of her, but she wasn't even jumping to conclusions. She was that shocked. She'd been looking for Tyler when she'd come up on the bench. Scanning the crowd still, she'd spotted him talking to Bonnie, but before she could take one step toward them, he'd pulled Bonnie to him. And Bonnie had just let it happen. He'd been looking at her like….her mind didn't let her go there. She'd been so shocked and confused that she hadn't even used her super hearing to glean what he was saying to her.

"Is this part of a big plan or something? I ran into Klaus down the street at the Grille. What were you guys talking about?"

"Nothing." She swallowed. "You know we had a disagreement a couple of weeks ago."

Caroline nodded slowly. "So he needed to grab you to talk about it?" Her mind automatically tried to buy the explanation. Yes, she could accept that Tyler was trying to intimidate her. His face….his face had looked….like he was admiring Bonnie's. Not threatening at all.

"Well he babysat me in detention a week and a half ago, too. I ended up walking out. He was being supervised, so when Ms. Rabkin came to check on him I'm guessing he didn't have much luck explaining why I was gone." God she sucked at this. "Listen," she said and touched Caroline's arm, "I gotta go find my dad. I'll see you later?" she asked as she started to back away. She turned and headed in the direction opposite of Tyler's.

Caroline watched her leave. She forgot to listen to Bonnie's heartbeat for a sign that she was lying. Maybe she only looked like she was lying because of a completely different reason. The short witch had been pissed the night of the sleepover. When they'd finally gotten a chance to talk about it, Bonnie told her without judgment that trying to get Elena to see Damon's fault was pointless. Caroline had argued the bond, said it was the only reason Elena could actually open her mouth to argue in favor of Damon. Bonnie hadn't bought it. She believed Caroline about the existence of the bond, but she didn't believe it was why Elena had said what she'd said. Too many experiences of Elena acting the way she'd spoken, even before she became a vampire.

So maybe all of that explained Bonnie's weirdness. Plus she'd killed someone for the first time, which was never easy. Caroline realized now that she hadn't asked her how she felt about it.

_And _Bonnie was also looking for the cure for Elena.

The girl had a lot on her plate, and that was just with the supernatural world. There was prom, senior exams, graduation, college applications.

But none of those explained Tyler. They could explain why Bonnie had been immobile; she was probably drained and didn't have the energy to protest. But Tyler had pulled her to him. What had he said to her?

She could easily ask him. She could. But she turned in the direction he went with absolutely no intention of letting him know she'd seen him.

* * *

"Hey you."

Tyler looked up from his seat on the side of the water fountain and smiled politely at Caroline. "Hey." He took his elbows off his thighs and sat up straight.

Her off-white dress swirled around her knees when she turned to sit next to him. "I've been looking for you," she said with a smile. She slid her right arm around his left and scooted over until their bodies touched.

"Enjoying the festival?" he asked.

"I was. I am. Are you?"

"Yeah, it's fine," he said and looked at the passing crowd.

"Have you done anything special?" She held her breath.

Tyler looked at her. "Not really."

Caroline swallowed. "I know things were weird earlier, but….They might get weirder."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw Klaus at the Grille an hour ago. He was donating a painting to the charity drive."

"Adrian texted me earlier that Klaus had asked him to take a painting to the Grille. I didn't know he'd actually show up to be with it."

"Yeah so, if you see him walking around, don't be surprised."

Tyler looked up at the sky. The stars were paled by all of the festival lights. He sighed.

"I know this is frustrating for you," Caroline said softly. "But everything you want to happen can happen. _Both_ things can happen. We can use Klaus to find the cure and then-"

"I really don't want to talk about this right now."

"Tyler, I feel like you're asking me to choose, and I can't. I love you, but Elena's also my best friend. Her life is being _ruined_ by this vampire thing."

"You _do _need to choose. And you know what? You have." He took his arm from her and stood and left.

"Tyler. _Tyler!_"

* * *

Half an hour went by before Bonnie felt it was safe to look for Tyler. If he was even still at the festival. She hadn't sent him a text that she wasn't coming, and he hadn't texted her to ask. Caroline had most likely found him. Maybe she'd confronted him and they'd gotten into a fight. Perhaps he was off apologizing and trying to make it up to her.

But Caroline wasn't big on confrontation. When it came to issues that really bothered her or that could end with her feelings hurt, she defaulted to ranting to a third party about it. Rather than direct confrontation, she took the passive aggressive road. Only when she was pushed beyond frustration did she burst open with her true feelings.

That didn't explain why Tyler hadn't contacted her.

She found him by accident. She casually looked at one of the giant candy canes on the outskirt of the festival and saw the shape of a head that looked familiar. Like, was-talking-to-it-less-than-an-hour-ago-familiar.

He looked her way when before she reached him. "Hey," she greeted.

"Hey. For a second I thought you were someone else."

"Caroline?"

"Glad you made it."

"Don't tell me you've been waiting here the whole time."

"No, I got here like 10 minutes ago."

"Have you seen Caroline?"

Tyler moved backward and around the candy cane so that he was completely behind it and in shadow. Bonnie followed him around, and they stood parallel to the roaming crowd.

"I did," he answered. "I saw her talking to you. I heard Klaus' name, so I left."

Bonnie stood stunned. "Back up. You saw your girlfriend talking to me less than a minute, no, less than twenty, no, less than _tenseconds_ after you asked me to have sex with you-" Her heart suddenly jumped. She needed to be careful. For all she knew Caroline could be close by again, and her and Tyler _alone_ behind a giant red and white candy cane, away from light and sight, would probably come off a whole lot worse than him pulling her to his body. Especially after...he'd pulled her to his body. She lowered her voice, "And you just left?"

"I didn't abandon you."

She crossed her arms. "Really."

"She's gonna talk to me, too, trust me. You're fine. Caroline's not the type to get in a public fight, not a physical one, at least."

"No, she's more the type to compel. Which I'm sure she would've done to me if she could've."

"Was she mad?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. I was more focused on trying to leave. She asked me questions. She sounded suspicious. She hasn't talked to you yet?"

"Not about what she saw. She warned me that Klaus was walking around."

"Great."

"She asked me if I'd done anything special so far, which I'm positive was her way of fishing."

Bonnie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. "It was. And she's not gonna confront you about it, trust _me_. Not unless you give her more reason to. I told her, well I hinted that you grabbed me because of all the confrontations we've had. I mentioned detention, so. If you wanna run with that or build on it-Why are you smiling?"

"No reason; I just...you told her we were standing that close because I was confronting you?"

"_I didn't know what else to say,_" she defended. "I'm not an expert at this. God I hope she wasn't listening to me breathing when I walked away, because I was so clearly trying to calm myself down."

"Okay, do that again," Tyler said, grabbing her shoulders. "Right now. Breathe. Calm down. You're about to full out panic." Her body was sending out a ton of signals.

Bonnie closed her eyes and practiced breathing.

At some point, Tyler relaxed his hands and dropped them to the side of her shoulders.

Calmed, Bonnie opened her eyes.

"This was it," he said. At her confusion, he elaborated, "This was the spot I'd chosen. The one where we were going to…."

"Oh," Bonnie said suddenly, and she gave the spot a once-over. "It's public. But not too public. And dark. But not too dark. Someone could see us if they really looked." She wondered how….

Tyler stepped closer to her and caressed her cheek. "We can still give them a chance."

Bonnie looked at him and snapped out of her wonder. "Are you serious? I _just _spoke to your girlfriend like 30 minutes ago, and you're-Tyler, we can't do this. We can't," she repeated when he dropped his hand in frustration. "Especially if you think Caroline's going to confront you about what she saw. What, do you want a bigger lie to tell?"

Tyler didn't answer. He just wanted her. He wanted the skirt of her dress bunched around her waist and her underwear around her ankles. He wanted her bent over and holding on to the candy cane. He wanted her rearing her tight ass back so she could fuck him with as much fury as she'd displayed that night. He wanted her to work it all out on his cock. He wanted her to almost get them caught with all the noise she was failing to hold inside. He wanted one or two people to find it odd that one candy cane out of the group was wobbling, and he wanted them to walk around the perimeter until they were adjacent to the giant fake sweet and could see that two people were indeed fucking their way to an orgasm behind it. He wanted to spill come as white as the fake ass snow that lay at the base of every candy cane, and he wanted it to be the most intense orgasm he's had so far. And at the most extreme end of the spectrum, he wanted Caroline to be able to tell on sight that Bonnie's pussy was wet with remnants of the come that hadn't managed to drip out, his come, and he wanted her to be able to tell that his thighs were still shaking from his orgasm. He wanted her to read it on their faces.

That was how he was able to ask her for sex despite the fact that Caroline was quite possibly on to them. The little reminder that Caroline had outed his plan for Klaus to Stefan did the opposite of deterring him from what he wanted. It wasn't about being disloyal to Caroline or sticking it to her. He . wanted.

But Bonnie was saying no.

"We can't," Bonnie repeated a third time. "I should go find my dad."

He nodded.

"Merry Christmas," she said.

"Merry Christmas."

Bonnie felt like she was leaving her vagina behind with Tyler. The phenomenon of the "protesting vagina" had appeared in many of the adult romance novels she'd read from 6th grade to 10th grade. She'd always chalked the phenomenon up to being a flowery way of talking about someone with a vagina being very, very, incredibly horny. No. There was nothing flowery about how she was feeling right now. It felt like she was literally leaving without her vagina. It felt like her vagina had grown into a separate entity and it was standing next to Tyler and watching her walk off and judging her to be an absolute idiot. _Look at her walking away from this. What an idiot._

Despite her righteous chastisement of Tyler, she'd been wondering how they could've had sex behind the candy cane. The fake snow on the ground wasn't large enough to serve as a makeshift bed. She'd figured out that they could do it standing up with him behind her, and she'd been picturing the stretching of her vagina by his dick when he'd caressed her cheek and pretty much offered to bring her picture to life.

Saying yes hadn't been an option. Not with Caroline's face, voice, and presence so fresh in her mind. If she and Tyler were to ever sleep together, she wanted it to be before they ran into Caroline, not after. It wouldn't matter if Caroline was in the next room, in the building, close by, it wouldn't matter. As long as she didn't see her on her way to doing her thing.

Because she'd decided. Right before Caroline had walked up to her, she had decided.

Jeremy had cheated on her, and she would have essentially been helping Tyler cheat on his girlfriend. So she'd done this weird thing where she'd decided Tyler was no better than Jeremy: unfaithful and disloyal. And she'd made the decision to follow him. Because she wasn't _making _him disloyal; he had come to her that way. He had asked her to follow him even after she had reminded him of his commitment. She _had_ been thinking about him on and off for the past three and a half weeks. She _did _want him. But she didn't have to have him. But he'd offered. And she had not wanted to say no.

But then she'd run into Caroline.

She was walking away now not because she'd seen the light but because her arousal had been dampened. But if by some miracle Tyler asked her to follow him again, on another day, at another place, she would.

* * *

"Hello?"

"Hi. It's me. And you know that."

"How's it going?"

"Um. There's a problem that I was really hoping to resolve and not have to bring to you."

"I meant how's it going in terms of your well being, but if you want to skip to business, that's fine."

"We don't have twelve Hybrids anymore, Shane."

"What do you mean?"

"One of them's dead. Killed by someone Tyler refuses to tell me about. We're down to eleven, and I've been talking to him about breaking one more Hybrid's bond, but he's resisting. The ritual can't happen tonight. Besides, he's called it off."

"How did this happen?"

"I have no idea. For the first time since I met him he's actually being secretive. He won't tell me what happened, just that Dylan pissed off the wrong person."

"Was it Klaus?"

"Not Klaus. And none of the Hybrids will tell me what happened. They won't even tell me where the body is or what happened to it, nothing."

"That's not good; they're shutting you out."

"They're being loyal to Tyler, which is mutually exclusive, because, um, that's another thing: Tyler's an Alpha now."

"Excuse me?"

"He's an Alpha. Again, don't ask me how it happened because he's being vague with the details. Just that it happened the night Dylan died. My guess is that he got pissed at whoever killed Dylan and tore them to pieces."

"An Alpha who is also a vampire. That's not possible."

"Really? Knew a whole lot of Hybrids in your day?"

"I hate the changes in this world. Sometimes I really do. And Hayley? You're supposed to update me at the end of every week. Something like us losing a Hybrid or Tyler growing into an Alpha is absolutely an excuse to update me _sooner_. How long have you been hiding this?"

"Okay, I haven't been hiding it. But maybe two weeks."

"I don't make it a point to remind you that this issue is time-sensitive. Do I need to start?"

"No."

"This is a ritual. I need those twelve sacrifices, and I need them to die together, and I need them killed less than an hour apart, and I need them killed by the same entity. I have twelve more humans set up to die, but the way I have this set up they cannot die until the Hybrids do. The Hybrids are the supernatural kick, and they were your idea. They're your project. _Complete it_."

"I will."

"And Hayley. Advice. Don't waste your time convincing Tyler to free another Hybrid. Especially not now that he's an Alpha. Stay close to him. Offer advice; help him adjust just like you did when he was breaking the bond. And then have him lead the others to the location where they'll die. He is the twelfth Hybrid. I know you like him. I know you wanted to spare him, but-"

"I know. Time-sensitive issue."

"Time-sensitive issue. And Hayley. If whoever killed Dylan was dead, then he wouldn't have a problem telling you who they were. Whoever it was is probably still alive, and he probably has reason to keep their identity a secret and to ask the others to do the same. But do not ask around. It will absolutely get back to Tyler, especially since they all trust him enough to let him lead. Stay close to him."

"I will."

* * *

Bonnie arrived home with her father at 1:43 in the morning. She'd had trouble concentrating because of the blunder with Tyler and Caroline, but she'd had a pretty good time at her table with her father, two of his friends who served on the county school board, their husband, wife, and their pre-teen kids. She didn't see Tyler or Caroline for the rest of the night.

Now she was ready for bed, teeth brushed and face washed. And Tyler was on her mind. She didn't fight it, quite the opposite. She flipped onto her back and got comfortable. Slipping a hand down her shorts and underwear, she ran her middle finger down her slit and hit wetness before she reached her entrance.

She closed her eyes and floated up into the alternate world where Caroline didn't interrupt. She inserted a finger inside and used the wetness to ready her clit for play. Using three fingers, she brought herself off to the image of Tyler driving her crazy behind the candy cane.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: 17 reviews and just two chapters! Thank you guys so much! I'm loving your reactions to the chapters. Nkhen, I don't absolve Bonnie either, lol. She's a very logical person, so she needed some way to make her actions okay.**

**I'm so excited about this story. I literally think about it every day, and I've been working on it every day. Literally, when I have nothing to do at work, I pull it up and type. I decided that it was finally time to start posting, since I'm way ahead in the chapters and don't see an end yet.**

**Btw, I'm creating a playlist for this fic. It's kind of hard since it's not done yet, but I have some songs down for the big moments. If anyone is interested, the theme song for Forwood is Drake's Doing it Wrong. I'll reveal the theme song for Tonnie's heart to hearts when they start getting more frequent, which I think kicks off in the next chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Part 3: Like Glue**

"And last but not least, well not last but not least, but the _last_ of the fun senior activities is prom," said Tikki Watson, President of the senior class. "The prom committee has narrowed it down to four themes: Mardis Gras-"

"Mardis Gras is such a bad idea," Caroline whispered to Tyler like the theme gave her physical pains. "The seniors did it three years ago. Three! Not enough time has gone by."

Tyler looked at her. He wasn't hot about the theme either. He'd grimaced when Marcella had suggested it at the second senior meeting in the fall. Most of the seniors had said no. But she'd apparently pushed it through. It probably helped that she was Tikki's best friend.

Tikki continued, "Pictures of you-"

Tyler looked at Caroline and smiled. He knew that one was hers.

"Arabian Nights-"

"I _don't_ want Arabian Nights," Bonnie whispered from her seat next to Matt. "The idea is pretty, but they want to use pillows instead of chairs, and I don't want to sit on the floor in my dress."

"Me neither," Matt whispered back. "Only, you know, in my tux." He smiled.

Bonnie playfully nudged him with her shoulder. She looked at the bleachers across the gym and easily found Tyler and Caroline. It wasn't the first time she'd looked at them. And this wasn't the first time that she focused on how Caroline had an arm slung through Tyler's and was holding on to his bicep, all but leaning her whole weight on him. Bonnie blinked slowly. They'd been inseparable in the hallways since school opened back up. Bonnie knew, because Matt couldn't reference what part of the school Tyler was in without mentioning Caroline, and Elena couldn't say where in the school Caroline was without mentioning Tyler.

_Alright, I have to wait for Tyler. He's coming from the football field. He stopped by to see Caroline during her cheerleading practice._

_So apparently Caroline's gonna be a little late. She got roped into helping Ms. D pack up all the crap they tried to sell to the freshmen in the fall. She's calling Tyler to help out._

All of this because Tyler had pulled her to him at the festival? Maybe it wasn't Caroline. Maybe the two really had come to a compromise over winter break.

"And A Bit Whimsical," Tikki continued. "Booths will be set up starting tomorrow, and you guys will have the rest of this month plus all of February to vote for your favorite. Tickets will go on sale the second week of March, and then it'll be graduation! But we're gonna talk about graduation during our March meeting. Our next senior meeting will be on the second week of February, and we'll be talking about the senior trip to Shenandoah National Park. Maybe. On that note, Mr. Hill would like to say a few words before we go."

Tyler looked up from Tikki giving the mic to their principal and found Bonnie. It was officially winter. It was cold and windy enough outside for people to be wearing ugly jackets, but Bonnie stood apart once again. She wasn't wearing anything crazy like a dress that was more fit for late spring and thus might attract suspicion like Caroline was. She wore jeans, a blouse, and a cardigan. It was the color of her blouse and cardigan that made her stand out. The deep orange of her shirt and subdued colors of her cardigan made her look effortlessly warm, like the area surrounding her was on a completely different seasonal cycle. She looked beautiful and ethereal, and every time he looked at her he completely tuned out what anyone holding the microphone was saying. It was like he could not split his attention if she was involved.

She rubbed her lips together, and he wondered if she was wearing lipgloss. He felt Caroline about to look at him, so he surreptitiously averted his eyes to Mr. Hill, Bonnie's father's best friend.

He was connected to the government thanks to his parents; Caroline had law enforcement; Elena had the most useless with the medical world (what, was she _not_ gonna pay medical bills?). Bonnie had the schools.

Unlike the rest of them, she had gone to Amelia Bennett Elementary School, named after her great-grandmother (formerly Amelia Bennett's School for Negro Children back when it was run inside the education pioneer's home in the 1930s and 40s, then transferred to a proper building in the 50s). Amelia died at a ripe 84 when Bonnie was 13, and it had been a tremendous affair.

The principle of Sage Middle School, where he'd officially begun a friendship with Bonnie and the rest of the girls, had been Sheila Bennett's best friend. He wondered if she planned to go to Whittmore College. If her grandmother was still alive, she'd have a connection there, too. Although, judging from the past, she most likely had someone higher than a professor. Maybe the dean or the president. He knew that her father was a Whitmore alumnus, so he more than likely has a few connections.

* * *

"Kimberley."

"It's Kim. For the thousandth time."

"But Kimberley is much more sophisticated. For the thousandth time."

"I didn't realize you were out."

"Mmmm, more like awake. And I'd appreciate it if you kept that from my brother. I don't want him to know I'm back until I'm ready," Rebekah said.

"So you followed me to a grocery store," Kim said.

"I know he's not home at this time of day. I've been watching. But I'd also like you to keep this from your Hybrid brethren, too, so yes: I followed you to the grocery store."

"And why me?" Kim had had a sinking feeling the moment she'd looked up from the avocados and saw Rebekah walking toward her.

"I need a favor," Rebekah said and stepped up to her.

At that moment, Kim could feel every bit of hair on her body. They were standing on end, and they were screaming that something bad was about to happen. She knew that "One Step Forward" move well. It was what vampires did right before they compelled someone. Klaus had used it on the more petulant Hybrids, including her, or just when he was especially pissed and wanted to exact even more control over them. And now it seemed Rebekah wanted to have her go.

"Who took the dagger out of you?" Kim asked, fear making her throat dry. Her only option was to get at least one bit of useful information that she could take back to Tyler. Maybe she'd even tell Klaus and get rid of Rebekah that way.

Rebekah made her pupils dilate. "You will go to Mystic Falls High School. At 3:30, you will go to the track field where you will shift into your werewolf form. From there, you will rampage through the library where you will tear the _flesh_ off of Matt Donovan. You will not stop until you are gnawing on his bones. The hows and whys are none of your concern," she said and patted Kim's cheek. "Understood?"

"Understood," Kim responded.

"It's my turn to make a statement."

* * *

Back in the gymnasium, Mr. Hill continued, "Now maybe graduation is too far away. Maybe the consequence for pranks like spray-painting all of the vending machines should be banishment from _all _senior activities. Or how about cancellation?"

The gym erupted in protest.

"They can't just cancel everything," Elena objected. "This is so stupid. We're seniors; what is this, their first time at the rodeo? Seniors pull pranks."

"Did you just say first time at the rodeo?" Matt asked.

"Public schools are government property," Bonnie informed her. "That makes what they did vandalism."

"Spray-painting any part of this school isn't a prank. It's vandalism," Mr. Hill continued.

Elena and Matt looked at Bonnie, and Bonnie raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips, smug. Elena smiled and shook her head.

"It's _illegal._ We have the perpetrators on camera. I know you planned for the football shoulder pads to throw us off track, but we will find you. Everyone on the football team swears it wasn't them."

"It wasn't," Matt whispered. He didn't know their identities, but he knew that two of the four pranksters were girls, and the four hadn't borrowed those shoulder pads from anyone on the football team. They'd most likely bought them for the occasion.

"But it did give me an idea," Mr. Hill continued. "You all have made it through these last four years together. You plan on receiving those diplomas together. So how about you all stay home from prom together? How about you stay in Mystic Falls together and not go anywhere near grad bash?"

A cacophony of gripes spread across the bleachers.

Bonnie sullenly propped her left elbow on her knee. She didn't want anything to get cancelled. She was finally getting into this whole senior thing. Other than planning for the cure and losing her shit the night Elena had thrown Damon in her and Caroline's faces, her life was pretty calm. Then again, there was pretty much nothing that could compare to the absolute hell of her junior year. Starting with her breakup, her life had fallen to the darkest pit in the earth at breakneck speed and then exploded. And then someone had come along and incinerated what was left by presenting her with Elena the vampire at the end of summer.

So compared to all of that, she's been having a pretty easy time the past two and a half months. And she wanted to go to grad bash, and to prom, and then she wanted to graduate and leave.

* * *

The assembly was over, and most of the students had filed out. This was one of Tyler's favorite parts about being a senior: on the days that they had meetings, they left class forty minutes before the final bell rang and spent the rest of the day _not_ in class and then they just went home. Beautiful.

Caroline had gone down to the court to speak to Tikki and the rest of student government. Matt was gone, home he presumed, and Elena was off somewhere. This left Bonnie by herself, and she seemed to have decided to start some of her homework on the bleachers.

He was wondering if he'd crossed her mind at all since they'd last seen each other when blood suddenly rushed to his ears. He felt a panic coming on. Before he could wonder where the feeling had come from, his attention was stolen by the sound of someone hurriedly approaching him.

"Kim? What are you doing here?"

Kim sat down next to him. "I'm in trouble, Tyler."

"What's wrong?"

"Rebekah's back."

"_What?_" He was barely getting questions in, because she was speaking so fast.

"She found me at the grocery store, but I don't know who took the dagger out of her. She compelled me; well she thinks she's compelled me, but I don't know why it didn't work, but she expects me to present her with a mangled Matt Donovan in the library-"

"_What?_"

"I need your help; what the hell do I do?"

"Kim, slow down," he said, and he put his hands on her shoulders.

"No, I can't slow down! This is supposed to happen at 3:30, and it's 3:15, and if I don't give her a dead boy, she'll know something's up, and guess who she's gonna take that to."

"You _need_ to calm down. It's gonna be okay." He looked across the room to where Bonnie was. He looked back at Kim. "Listen. It's gonna be okay. I promise. Klaus isn't gonna find out about this. Just give me a second."

He started down the bleachers to get to Bonnie, and Kim stood and went to the exit. She needed to be on the track field at 3:30, whether she was shifting or not. She anxiously waited at the door for Tyler to come back with good news.

* * *

Bonnie looked up from the long list of ingredients Lucy had faxed her and saw Tyler running up to her.

Caroline saw him, too.

Bonnie closed her notebook and knitted her eyebrows.

"Hey," Tyler greeted as he sat next to her. "How did you desiccate Klaus last time?"

He'd taken a seat on her left, so she had to turn her body to face him. "What?"

"We need it for Rebekah. She's back, and she's compelled Kim to kill Matt, only it didn't work, but we need to get rid of Rebekah before she realizes that."

"Okay, slow down."

"Bonnie."

"I desiccated Klaus by stopping Jeremy's heart; that's not gonna happen again. Um," she closed her eyes and tried to think. "There are other things I can do. Uh, I can trap her somewhere, a room or something: I can put up a seal."

"I was hoping for something where she'd be unconscious and unable to talk."

Bonnie suddenly grabbed Tyler's jacket, though a complete sentence eluded her. "Tyler!" She pointed at the exit, and her notebook and pen fell. Kim was disappearing with Rebekah.

Tyler rushed off the seat. Fuck all the mortals who were still in the gym and littered in the hallways. There was no way he could run at top speed.

Bonnie was hot on his heels, and Caroline, having long dropped her conversation with Tikki and having caught a glimpse of Rebekah when Bonnie pointed, ran after them.

* * *

Rebekah took Kim to one of the empty hallways. Now, someone could of course round a corner at any moment, but she could take care of them.

"The gym isn't the track field," she said with an air of perplexion.

"It's 3:18," Kim said in her best dull voice.

Rebekah smiled. "_Kim_. I was so so so very excited about making my statement that I didn't realize something until after you left."

Kim almost asked what, but she decided that a compelled person would ask no such thing.

Rebekah smiled again. "Your pupils didn't dilate," she said softly. Her hand flew to Kim's throat. "What's going on?"

Kim struggled to jab some fingers between the skin that stretched from Rebekah's thumb to her index and her throat so that she could create space for herself to breathe. It was like losing a limb but still feeling it there. Her heart did not beat, but she still had sensations that felt like breathing.

"Answer me in the next second, or I will pin you to this floor and pummel your lungs. Did you know it was possible for a vampire to-"

"Rebekah!" Tyler yelled as he rounded the hallway.

Right behind him, Bonnie waved her arm to the right and slammed both Rebekah and Kim into the lockers. It was her best chance at freeing Kim from Rebekah's grip.

Tyler took off his jacket and ran straight for Rebekah while Caroline ran to Kim who was trying to move away from Rebekah and clear her mind at the same time. Her throat was dry, and her brain was foggy from the disruption in blood flow.

Bonnie looked at both ends of the hallway and tried to think of a spell that would make sure no one discovered them.

Tyler let go of all reservations, and he straddled Rebekah and punched her across the face. The vampire was more stunned from the act than the impact. She has never been hit. Tyler bared his claws to slash her face, and that snapped her out of it. She caught Tyler's hand before he could make contact. She pulled him down by the collar of his shirt and slammed his head on the floor.

"Tyler!" Caroline yelled. Her face contorted into its monster form, and she rushed at Rebekah. Rebekah used her speed to stand and caught Caroline by the throat and slammed her on the floor like she'd planned to do to Kim.

Bonnie abandoned the plan of keeping them from being discovered and stretched her hand out to Rebekah's head and made up a spell on the spot, "_Dormite jam, et mundus transit. De luminaribus, cerebrum quiescit, et recipit vos in mundum…..proxima septimana!_" She exhaled in relief when Rebekah slumped over Caroline. It worked.

She ran to Caroline and rolled Rebekah off of her. She looked back at Tyler, and Kim was helping him stand. It was the person at the end of the hallway, however, who made her blood run cold.

"Dad?"

Kim stopped helping Tyler. Her instinct was to run to the man and compel him to forget what he'd just saw, but maybe Bonnie had it under control.

Rudy looked down the hallway he'd come from to ensure no one was coming and then walked to Bonnie who left Caroline to meet him halfway.

"What are you doing here?"

"I was meeting Calvin-"

"Okay, you need to leave. Now." She started to physically move him down the hallway. "Tell Mr. Hill to meet you outside, but you need to go."

"Bonnie-"

"_Now, _dad. Now!"

Rudy realized he wasn't going to get anywhere with her, so he placated her by leaving.

"Shit," Bonnie breathed when she turned back to the little group. This was not what she needed.

Tyler gave Caroline his attention. "Care, are you okay?"

Still a little dazed, Caroline moaned and touched her forehead.

The head didn't care if the rest of the body was supernatural. Hit it and one would be rendered less than coherent.

"What did you do?" Kim asked Bonnie when the witch rejoined them.

Bonnie looked at Rebekah. "Put her to sleep until two weeks from now. I almost said until tomorrow."

"Nice save."

Bonnie nodded. She kneeled on Caroline's right and asked, "Caroline, are you okay?"

Caroline began to sit up and Tyler and Bonnie each put a hand behind her back to support her. "God I hate her," she seethed Rebekah's way.

"What are we going to do?" Kim asked. Her eyes widened, and she looked down the hallway when she heard four distinct voices approaching from around the corner.

"Shit." Bonnie stood up and moved a little ways down the hallway. Thinking quickly, she stretched her right hand up to the ceiling and whispered, "_Ego lux in mea_."

She immediately felt strange. The lights in their hallway went off. The rest of the school was still lit, and she heard the students get closer to rounding the corner. She started to panic, but nevertheless took two more steps and threw her fist up at one of the darkened light panels. She heard one of the ones around the corner explode. The students chattered their surprise as shards of glass crashed on the floor.

Bonnie took another step and threw her fist again. A second panel exploded around the corner, and it served to reverse the students' course. She opened her hand and whispered, "_Lux mea accipio! Id opus in tenebris!_"

An empty silence filled the building as all of the lights abruptly disappeared.

"Nice," Kim commented.

The strange feeling that had come over Bonnie intensified. She shivered. Something delicious caressed every inch of her skin, from her forehead to the skin that covered the little bone that jutted out of the ankles to the pads of her fingers. She was suddenly very sensitive, and she realized the electric energy that powered the artificial lights was now coursing just beneath the top layer of her skin. She licked her lips and tried not to embarrass herself. "Oh my God," she whispered. It might be a losing battle.

"We need to move her," Tyler said of Rebekah.

"Bathroom? Janitor's closet? Empty classroom?" Kim asked.

"We need something close. Bathroom," Tyler decided, and he lifted Rebekah.

"I can put up a seal-" Bonnie cut herself off and gathered her nerve. She let the blissful sensation pass. "Make it so no mortal can walk in."

"Good," Tyler said and led the way to the boys bathroom. Kim ran to the end of the hallway to grab his jacket and then followed.

Walking was very interesting for Bonnie. She smiled the whole way. At the entrance of the bathroom, she asked Kim to turn on all of the faucets and hold the door open. Every seal needed an elemental component, the more elements included, the more powerful the seal and the longer it lasted. Bonnie only needed the seal up until they could figure out what to do with Rebekah. Seals also needed the room to be as open as possible so that the spell could lock it down.

She held her hands out, elbows bent at her waist, palms up, and trembled her way through the spell. "_Phasmatos salvis. Qui-qui habitat in terra eademque aqua locus. Hoc enim omnes mor-mortales in carcere extra aqu-qu-quam, ut non possit intrare. Hoc….signum pervadat ad h-hanc portam, et haec dicuntur manere fortis testi-monium in hac esse venefica dixit: Vultis dimittam tenuit….hanc meam._"

Magic mixed with the electric buzz. She badly wanted to be naked and touch her skin.

Tyler watched as the faucets turned off all by themselves, signaling the creation of the seal. All of the bathrooms in Mystic Falls High operated on a switch. Students turned them on when they entered and off when they left, so any light that had been turned off during Bonnie's spell was still operable. Caroline had turned this one on when she'd walked in behind Tyler.

Bonnie lowered her hands and stepped inside. She took the door from Kim and closed it. "Now no mortal can come in." She leaned against the door and tried to compose herself. She wished she was alone so that she could enjoy this feeling. Doing magic had only intensified the current, and now it was making it's way through her clitoral hood to touch her clit. She was getting wet in the middle of a crisis. This Blackout spell, that's what she would call it, was a blessing, one she wished she'd discovered sooner.

"Okay, now what?" Kim asked as she walked to the end of the room where Tyler had laid Rebekah.

"Now we dagger her again," Caroline answered.

"We need to fi-figure out who-who woke her," Bonnie tried not to whimper.

"We didn't get to that part," Kim informed the room. "She just said she wanted to make a statement, and she didn't want Klaus to know she was back until she was ready."

"We need to find that dagger," Tyler said. "I'm not comfortable just letting her sleep. I feel like she'll wake up any minute."

"Kim and I can….we can find it," Bonnie sighed.

Tyler looked up at her and frowned. He didn't understand why she was leaning against the door with her back to them.

"You think she just has it lying around her house? She'd know that that's the first place we'd look," Kim said.

"That's if she was planning on getting beaten her first day out," Caroline pointed out.

Kim acquiesced to her point, but she said, "This wasn't her first day out. She's been awake long enough to know Klaus' routine."

"Why is she so concerned about making a statement?" Tyler wondered.

"Because she's embarrassed," Caroline said. "Stefan and Klaus conned her into giving up this important sword that has to do with the cure, and then Klaus put her down."

"And this Matt Donovan dying would've made an impact?" Kim asked.

Bonnie and Caroline gasped, though gasping only made Bonnie short of breath. Her nipples were so hard that the skin around them was stretched to its limit.

Tyler was thinking along the same line as the girls. "We need to make sure Matt's okay. If Rebekah's working with someone, they might have him."

"I'll find Matt," Caroline said.

"Rebekah wanted me to tear him apart in the library," Kim told her.

Caroline frowned. "Okay?" What a random location for murder.

"Kim let's go," Bonnie said.

Tyler was about to say something to her when Kim spoke.

"Can we bite her? Just as a little extra precaution?"

"Rebekah hallucinating in her sleep and not able to wake up? Sounds like the perfect idea to me," Caroline said.

Tyler smiled at Kim. She joined him by Rebekah's body, and they each grabbed an arm.

Bonnie turned to look, but she didn't just turn, she slithered, rubbing her body against the cool door.

Kim and Tyler bared their canines and sank them into Rebekah. They concentrated, necessary as they had spent months only honoring their vampire half, and released their poison. Rebekah's blood stung their gums in return, but it was a mild discomfort. Having gotten a taste of vampire skin, they gnawed on her until they touched bone.

Caroline grimaced and turned her head away from the nasty display.

Tyler remembered that he was in more company than just Kim's and unhinged his jaw. He wiped his mouth and felt a little disgusting. The shame disappeared when he looked at Bonnie mid-wipe and saw her staring at him with her mouth open and tongue over her bottom teeth. He licked his lips and then licked his gums to wipe away the blood, and Bonnie's vulva spasmed. She crossed her arms and turned away and closed her eyes. Tyler didn't know what to make of that.

Caroline didn't hear munching anymore, so she turned around. And saw that Tyler's attention was at the door. She looked at Bonnie and saw that her back was turned. She hid her confusion and looked at Tyler. He wiped his mouth again and looked at Rebekah.

"Now we can go," Kim said. She stood and walked to Bonnie.

"I don't-don't think we need the blackout anymore," Bonnie said. She shivered. She couldn't ride in a car with Kim like this. She felt like running to the nearest room, locking herself in it, dropping her pants and underwear and masterbating until she screamed in orgasm.

"We don't," Tyler answered, but Bonnie was already chanting.

"_Egomet libera….et dimittam structura in te-tenebris lumen._"

The vibrating energy left her like a rude lover, wham, bam, thank you m'am, and she suddenly felt like less than what she was before. It was like the orgasm that never came. She couldn't let the others see that, so she trucked on and opened the door. The hallway was lit.

"Bonnie, are you okay?" Tyler asked.

"Fine," she answered and stepped out without sparing him a glance.

Tyler looked after her and was completely bothered by her strange behavior.

Caroline had enough. She kneeled down, Rebekah's body between them, and touched his forehead. He looked at her like he'd forgotten she was in the room. She frowned. "Are you okay?" She didn't think he and Bonnie had spent any time together over winter break, but she might have been wrong.

"I'm fine," Tyler answered and wiped his mouth again for good measure. "Are you?"

Caroline brought her hand down to caress his cheek. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure, Tyler," she said with a smile. "I mean it hurt like a bitch, but it wasn't like I could do anything else. I told you I had your back."

Tyler smiled. It was small, but it was there.

Caroline pulled him in and kissed him.

Tyler closed his eyes out of habit, but he opened them when his mind stayed completely aware of everything that was happening. It didn't get foggy or hazy; it operated like normal. He pressed his lips against hers, but it didn't go any deeper than that, mentally, physically, or emotionally.

The most unnecessary thought formed in his mind after Caroline ended the kiss: he wondered if Bonnie was okay. _Obviously_ she was okay: she was the only one that hadn't been choked or slammed by Rebekah. Yet he still wondered how she was faring after the ordeal. He should've asked.

Caroline wasn't the type that was turned on by blood, so the smell of it on Tyler's mouth, more than the taste of it, made her cut the kiss short. She licked her lips and tried hard not to wipe it instead. Sex and blood weren't married where she was concerned. Blood was food, nothing more. Now she could get turned on by someone drinking blood or otherwise exposing it in a violent act (the thought of it alone was enough to get her going), but she didn't need it in her kisses or her sex life. Tyler poisoning Rebekah hadn't been savage enough to turn her on, so it had only stirred the part of her brain that processed disgust.

"I'm gonna go find Matt."

"Okay," he answered. "Be careful."

She nodded. She still felt like wiping her mouth after she left the bathroom, but she dealt with the smell, thinking that Tyler would somehow feel it if she wiped it off, and it would give him more reason to look at Bonnie like _that_ again. She couldn't fathom why the hell he'd be looking at Bonnie fresh off of poisoning a vampire.

* * *

Bonnie stopped by the gym to collect her things and then led Kim to her car.

"Rebekah's car is here," Kim realized after Bonnie unlocked the doors. "Not _here_ in this parking lot," she amended when Bonnie looked around, "But it's somewhere around the school. I know she drove here. Maybe there's something in there about the person who woke her up."

"Maybe, but Tyler's sitting on a bathroom floor, waiting for that dagger. Text him, and he'll tell Caroline to look for the car," Bonnie said. She entered the car and threw her bag on the back seat. If Mr. Hill was incensed over the vending machines, a knocked out and poisoned Original vampire in one of his bathrooms would send his blood pressure through the roof.

Kim almost said that Caroline doesn't know what Rebekah's car looks like, but then she remembered that Tyler could tell her, and _then_ she remembered that Rebekah was for some reason a student in Mystic Falls High School, so Caroline probably knew exactly what the car looked like.

Bonnie turned on the ignition, and they were off. Her body felt empty without the buzz, but the space between her legs felt heavy. She was horny with no opportunity for release in sight.

She and Kim were silent during the drive. She drove ten miles above the speed limit whenever she had room while Kim gave directions, and they arrived at Rebekah's place.

"What if her partner's inside the house?" Kim asked.

Bonnie looked at her as she parked. What an ugly possibility to bring up _now_. "We'll just have to deal with it."

They got out and cased the neighborhood. Quiet. They walked to the door, both paranoid that someone was going to see them and ask them what business they had at the house.

"There's an alarm in the house," Kim suddenly remembered.

"_Are you serious?_" Bonnie whispered. "She can't protect herself from getting daggered by Klaus, but she can safeguard her house? What do we do now?"

"Break in," Kim said like it should be obvious. "And get the dagger before the cops come."

That didn't sound like a good idea at all, as far as Bonnie was concerned. "You don't know the passcode?"

"No. I stand a better chance of knowing Klaus' passcode. And I don't know that one either."

Bonnie sighed. Her stomach was in knots. Setting off an alarm and alerting the neighbors had served perfectly well to kill her arousal. Better than a cold shower, truly.

"Alright. Let's do this." She pushed her right hand forward and threw the door open, breaking the lock in the process. The alarm immediately started to shrill.

The girls ran inside, and Bonnie went to close the door, but Kim sped to her side and grabbed her wrist. She gasped and balled the hand Kim held into a fist when death crawled on her skin.

"Fingerprints. Relax," Kim said. It was her idea to break in, but she didn't want to get caught. She was on edge after this whole thing with Rebekah.

Bonnie rubbed her fingers when Kim let go of her hand, and she used her telekinesis to close the door. "A little tip for the future? Vampires touching witches is not very pleasant for the witches, so you might want to….ease into it."

"It's not just vampires. It's ghosts and zombies and anything that's not alive. You guys are, like, allergic." She paused. "You do know that, right?"

"I missed that class."

"I miss the days when _I _used to be able to detect anything supernatural. I can't even make out a vampire anymore. My vampire side has killed that sense dead." She sighed and turned from Bonnie to assess the living room, and she realized the task before them. "Please tell me there's a spell you can use to make this go quicker."

"Actually, there is," Bonnie said. She'd completely forgotten. "But it's an ability, not a spell."

Kim sighed in relief and then waited for her to do whatever it was. She lifted her shoulders when Bonnie did nothing.

"What if it's not here?" Bonnie asked.

"Don't do that."

"If I woke an Original, I'd want to keep the dagger as leverage."

Kim dropped her head back. "Do you see Rebekah going for that?" she asked after she righted herself.

"Do you see her having a choice?"

"Okay, well we won't know until you do your thing, so," she gestured at Bonnie, "do your thing."

Bonnie breathed and closed her eyes. She held her hands at her side, similar to when she'd done the seal. This type of locating put no stress on her body. She envisioned a lot of things in order to call the dagger: the dagger itself, to the best of her memory, Rebekah, the fact that it was harmful to Rebekah, the possibility that it might be stored in something, the fact that it's tucked away somewhere. Without a picture of the dagger in it's current state, she had to work with all of that. She felt herself connect to something and pulled. And then her body relaxed.

When she opened her eyes, the dagger was hovering in front of her. She reached out and grabbed it by the handle, and then looked at a smiling Kim.

"Let's get out of here," Bonnie said.

* * *

Caroline ran to the library and yanked the door open. She searched around wildly and found Matt pushing a cart nearly empty of books. "Thank God. Hey," she called his attention when she was close enough. "What are you doing here? Since when do you help out at the library?"

"I don't. But April does. I ran into her after the assembly, and she asked me to help her out."

"Did you see anyone else hanging here? Anyone suspicious?"

"Uh, no? Why?"

"Because Rebekah Mikaelson is back, and she put a hit out on you in the form of a compelled Hybrid who was supposed to tear you to pieces."

"What?"

"Yeah. But it's okay. It didn't work, and now she's knocked out in the bathroom and awaiting a comfy little dagger in her heart."

"Who woke her up?"

"No idea. But she wanted to make a statement."

"By killing me." He thought Rebekah liked him.

"Yeah. Guess your looks have their limits," she said sympathetically. She smiled when Matt looked dubious. "Okay, I have to get back to Tyler," she said as she began to walk backwards, "But _be careful_."

"I will."

She turned then stopped. She looked back and asked, "Hey Matt, where's April?"

"She had a lot of homework, said she had to leave."

Caroline nodded slowly.

"Please don't tell me you're thinking she took the dagger out of Rebekah. She's still wearing the vervain bracelet Jeremy gave her; she wouldn't know anything about any of this."

"Wait, vervain? When did April get vervain?"

"Jeremy gave it to her after you compelled her to forget the Connor thing. What is it?

"I also _compelled _her to forget a conversation she overheard me having on the phone with Stefan. I'm pretty sure I mentioned where Rebekah was! _Are you kidding me?!_"

She swung towards the door, blonde hair flying, and left.

* * *

Elena was over the day. She was annoyed by Mr. Hill's threat, but the real problem was the emptiness that she felt. Something was missing. Damon was missing. She wanted so badly to touch him and be with him in the most intimate way possible. She would give anything to be in the same room as that abrasive personality that only softened around her; for the wild baby blues and dispassionate demeanor that was his default because years of upbringing by his father had instilled in him a sense of always being judged. The last was her own diagnosis. But she would give anything to be with him. Yet she was barred from giving a single scrap. He'd used the sire bond to make her keep her distance. And now her heart ached and calling him was no use because he'd made up his mind about what he thought was best for her. She was tired of people underestimating her, insisting on covering her in the purest of pure white. She was fine with it when she was human, had even subtly encour-

"Elena."

She froze. Which was a stupid thing to do when an Original vampire was nearby, and she had very much come to associate a British accent with the Originals. This one was male. And lacked the gravel always present in Klaus' voice. She turned and standing across from her was Kol Mikaelson.

"I don't believe we were ever formally introduced," Kol said as he continued to approach her.

Elena swallowed. She hadn't seen Stefan at school today and had no idea where Bonnie or Caroline was. She stood her ground. "We have. You were watching my brother and waiting to kill him in Denver."

"Ah. Life is full of so many more interesting things: I forgot."

"What are you doing here, Kol? Running another errand for Klaus?" It was completely unnecessary for her to antagonize him, especially without backup, but she wanted him to know that she saw the two of them as being on equal footing.

"Rebekah, actually," Kol answered. He looked around the hallway like Rebekah might've left arrows pointing him in her direction.

"Rebekah's lying in a coffin with a dagger in her chest."

He smiled at her. "No. A benevolent someone was so moved by the Christmas spirit that they freed her. After which she called me back to this sad town to help her extract some information out of you, Stefan Salvatore, Caroline, and whoever else she'd corralled into this building."

"You woke her up?"

"You're not listening." With that, he walked around her and continued his search for Rebekah.

Elena turned after him. "Wait! What did you do to Stefan? He's not here!"

Kol smiled at her over his shoulder and continued walking.

Elena pulled out her phone and dialed Stefan. No answer. She dialed Caroline.

In her part of the school, Caroline stopped running and pulled out her vibrating phone and noticed she had a text. She answered the call. "What is it?"

Elena balked at her tone. "What's wrong?"

"Crap's hitting the fan, what else? What's up?"

"I just ran into Kol Mikaelson."

"_What?_ It's a freaking infestation!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I had a nice run-in with Rebekah earlier."

Elena looked behind her. "Caroline, be careful what you say. Kol's still in the building."

"Oh my God. Hold on." She pulled up the text. Maybe the message was a S.O.S. from Tyler.

The text was from Tyler, but it read: _Did you find Matt? Rebekah's car is outside. Might find who she's working with. Check it out. _

Well, that was going to have to wait. Besides, it looked like they had an answer to that question. Two answers, maybe. She texted Tyler: _KOL MIKAELSON IS HERE!_

She then copied and pasted the message to Bonnie.

"_Caroline_," Elena stressed.

Caroline put the phone back on her ear. "What?"

"_I think he has Stefan_."

"What? Did you call him?"

"Of course."

"Okay, you know what? I cannot deal with this. Call Damon and tell him to get his ass over here."

"He's training Jeremy at the lake ho-"

"Call him! And where are you? We need to stick together."

* * *

Tyler picked up his phone when it buzzed, and he read the text. "Shit."

He stood and ran to the door and turned off the light. The seal would be useless in keeping Kol out. He texted Caroline to ask her if she was okay and hoped Kol wasn't doing something stupid like honing in on the minute sounds of fingers typing on a screen. There was no way they were lucky enough to subdue two Original vampires on the spot.

* * *

"Shit," Bonnie cursed when she read the text.

"What?" Kim asked.

"Kol Mikaelson's here. At the school."

Kim would've sank into her seat in defeat if she had less dignity. All that was left was for Klaus to show up, and she was a dead girl. A _permanently_ dead girl.

"Okay," Bonnie said, already raking her mind for defensive spells. "When we get to the school, you stay out of sight."

Sounded like a magnificent plan to Kim.

When they got to the school, Bonnie grabbed one of the jackets she could never remember to take out of the car and wrapped it around the dagger. There was no way she was going to risk poking a hole in the precious and expensive cardigan that she was wearing.

She walked inside the school and made a decision. This dagger was for Kol first and Rebekah second. Rebekah was already out of their hair for two weeks. Kol, on the other hand….

She prowled up and down the hallways, ready to bump into him at every turn, ready for him to sneak up behind her, ready to telekinetically send the dagger into his heart. But she saw sign of him. She then nervously made her way to Tyler.

* * *

Tyler heard the hurried shuffle of feet coming toward him and hoped it wasn't someone he'd have to kill. He backed away from the door and widened his stance.

At the door, Bonnie looked down the hallway to make sure no one was spying, and then she pushed the door open. She gasped as her heart jumped up to her throat, and she raised the jacket-covered dagger when she saw Tyler just standing in the dark.

"Jesus," Tyler sighed in relief. He turned on the light and pulled her inside and gently closed the door in case her gasp had attracted Kol's attention. He turned to Bonnie. She still looked shocked. The hand holding what he presumed was the dagger was still in its attack position. Hugging her was a no brainer.

Bonnie wrapped her arms around his neck and tried to relax. "I suddenly got so scared. There's no one in the hallways, and I kept expecting him to come up behind me."

Tyler hugged her closer, but it was he who closed his eyes and relaxed against her. He'd been scared too, isolated with an unconscious Rebekah while Kol looked for her. For _him_.

Bonnie was on the balls of her feet. He almost had her off the ground. And he was strong and soft but hard at the same time and kind of warm for a vampire. Maybe it was the Alpha part that gave him more heat. Maybe being an Alpha made the werewolf part of him more dominant than the vampire part. And he smelled _really_ good.

Tyler lowered one of his arms to her waist, but stopped himself short of picking her up. She was tinier than he was used to. Both of his past serious girlfriends had been taller than him.

He sobered at the fact that he'd just compared Bonnie's height to two ex girlfriends as if he wasn't still with one of them.

He wanted to feel every part of her as she separated from him, so he ended the hug slowly.

Bonnie felt like she'd been interrupted. She wasn't ready for the hug to end. But that didn't matter, because the door burst open and Elena walked in with Caroline. Matt bumped into the seal, and the door closed in his face.

Tyler turned abruptly, his skin prickling, not because he thought Kol was coming in, but because he thought Caroline was coming in. And she was. But thankfully, Elena walked in first. This wasn't something he wanted to halfway explain.

Bonnie was about sick and tired of her stomach twisting itself in knots. She left Tyler and followed Elena to Rebekah, because she didn't want to deal with looking at Caroline and whatever she might've seen, even though she and Tyler had stopped touching when the door opened.

Caroline noticed that Tyler and Bonnie were apparently hanging out in the bathroom while a homicidal Original was stalking the school? She couldn't figure out why they hadn't texted to let everyone know they'd reunited. She'd taken Elena to join Matt and the librarian who was getting ready to lock the doors, and then Elena had gotten impatient and insisted on joining Tyler.

But now wasn't the right time to question Tyler on why he hadn't sent out an alert.

Tyler was trying to figure out why the bathroom suddenly had a hell of a lot more people than before. Not that he wasn't glad to see Matt and Elena safe, but he wanted to know what they knew about the situation.

"I have the dagger," Bonnie announced to the room.

"Where's Kim?" Tyler asked her.

"Where's Kol?" Caroline asked her.

"Uh, guys?" Matt interrupted from behind the closed door. "I'm kind of stuck out here?"

Bonnie hesitated.

"We mainly need it for Kol now, and you said it was only mortals, right?" Tyler asked.

"Oh, right," Bonnie said. She was getting mixed up with the spells. She'd been envisioning lowering the seal so they could pull Matt in before Kol showed up. She walked to the door and opened it. She recited the words to release the seal. "_Vultis dimittam tenuit….hanc meam._"

The fauces turned on, and she stepped back to let Matt in. Matt tested it by putting his hand over the threshold. He walked inside, and Bonnie closed the door behind him.

Caroline turned the faucets off.

"I told Kim to stay outside," Bonnie revealed as she walked to where the others were huddled. "Kol doesn't need to see her. And I think he left. I went up and down the hallways hoping to drive this into him." She unveiled the dagger. "But I didn't see him."

"That's not good," Elena said and stood up from where she'd been inspecting Rebekah. "He's got Stefan."

"Anybody got Kol's number?" Matt asked with just a tiny bit of sarcasm. Stefan hadn't exactly come to his rescue when Damon had threatened to kill him for Elena becoming a vampire. It was one thing for him to think he was beyond indebted to Elena. It was another for the two people who had killed his sister to be telling him the same thing.

Tyler crossed his arms and asked Elena, "What exactly do you know about what's going on here?"

Caroline chastised him with a look.

Tyler acknowledged it and then waited for Elena to answer.

"Um, I know she tried to have Matt killed. I know you guys stopped her in time. Why?"

"No reason."

Caroline gave him a look that said _see? _

"Uh, guys?" Bonnie questioned. "May I have the honor?" Not that they had much choice. Only her and Matt could wield the dagger.

"Wait," Elena said. "We need her to tell us where Stefan is."

Bonnie looked at Tyler who said, "No way."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean no way. The guy's been alive for 100 years, Elena; we don't need Rebekah to find him. Besides, Kol's still in town; go knock on his door." He walked to Rebekah's body and kneeled opposite Bonnie and told her with his eyes to do it.

Bonnie held the dagger over Rebekah's heart.

"Bonnie," Elena protested.

Bonnie made the dagger touch Rebekah's chest and then leaned her weight on it. Piercing someone's heart took a lot more force than she expected. Before she could use her power to sink it in to the hilt, Matt came over.

He dropped his backpack. "Here." He added his strength to hers and they drove it through.

"Thanks," Bonnie said with a smile. She had wanted to do it by herself.

They all watched Rebekah ashen as grey veins covered her body.

"Good riddance," Caroline said.

"Now we hide her," Tyler said. He _hated_ that Elena was here. He might as well call Stefan to hide the body for him. He'd planned on telling Caroline and Bonnie that no one could find out about Rebekah waking up. But now there was no point. Elena would tell either Stefan or Damon, which meant Klaus was going to find out. He needed to keep Kim's name out of it. Caroline had kept her from Elena, for which he was thankful. But he still felt like explicitly stating that the others must not know how exactly Rebekah planned to kill Matt.

"We can hide her in the Salvatore boarding house," Elena volunteered. When she looked at Tyler, she knew her idea was about to get shut down.

"I'll hide her," Bonnie said, knowing that Tyler and Kim's secret needed to stay with Rebekah. The chances of that were low if Stefan and Damon could call up Matt or Jeremy to take the dagger out. "And no one needs to know where."

"How are you going to carry her out of the school?" Tyler asked.

"I'll help," Caroline volunteered quickly.

Tyler would rather be the one to help Bonnie, considering Caroline and Klaus seemed to talk more and more lately, but he kept quiet.

"What are we going to do about Stefan?" Elena asked. She barely succeeded in keeping the impatience out of her voice. She had called Damon, but he hadn't been successful in reaching Stefan either. He'd said he was on his way back, but she'd told him to hold off, that she and Bonnie could find him.

"You and I can look for Stefan," Matt said.

"I think we should go to Klaus' place, let him know Kol's here, and he'll find him and find Stefan."

Tyler grabbed his jacket off the floor and walked out. If he stayed for any more bullshit that weren't in his interest or that of his pack, he would go off.

"What is his problem?" Elena asked.

Caroline sighed. "Nothing. Let's get this over with," she said to Bonnie.

* * *

Bonnie's solution was to hide Rebekah in the tomb under Old Fell's Church. Caroline carried the unconscious vampire deep inside the tomb, and Bonnie locked her in with two separate seals. Earth would keep vampires and Hybrids out. Fire, which she made by lighting the old torches, would keep humans out. Splitting the elements into two seals instead of combining them in one made the seals weaker, but combining them for a stronger seal also meant a stronger spell needed to be performed which meant more health risks for the witch.

She used her telekinesis to place the door in front of the entrance. Emily's inverted pentagram stared at her.

"That was creepy," Caroline said as she patted her dress. "I've never been inside the tomb before. I felt like I wouldn't be able to get out."

"It certainly has a reputation," Bonnie said and turned to leave.

"Hey listen, are you into my boyfriend?"

There went another knot in her stomach. "Excuse me?"

"Are you…" Caroline asked as she slowly walked up to her, "into...my boyfriend? Are you into Tyler?"

"No. Of course not."

"Good. I really hope not," Caroline said and walked past her. On her way out of the tomb, she said, "If you're really hard up, the creepy professor seemed to like hanging around you."

Bonnie looked after her and blinked faster than she needed to when she realized she'd been insulted two-fold.

* * *

She was beat when she made it home. She took a warm shower and explained to her father what had happened. Being honest with him was still strange even after almost a year of it, but as long as he kept himself from physically getting involved, she would tell him almost anything he wanted to hear.

It was now 10:58pm, and she's been ready for bed since she came home at 5:30. She was washing her plate and fork after the second dinner she'd eaten when someone knocked on her door. She paused her soapy hands in the sink and hoped it wasn't Klaus. She'd dropped Caroline off at the school after a very silent ride. Tyler and Kim had left, and Elena had texted to say that Stefan had called her from his front door after waking up from a snapped neck.

So who was at her door now?

She answered it before her father came back down to the television. And then remembered that she was in her sleepwear: an old shirt she'd received as a gift during her summer as a lifeguard and shorts so short that her buttcheeks hung out of them. Her hair was wrapped, and she was wearing flip flops. So of course the person on the other side of the door was Tyler, showered, wearing a different outfit from earlier, but still as hot and actually ready for company. The only thing they had in common was that he looked as tired as she did.

Tyler cocked his head. Here was an unexpected visual.

Bonnie closed her eyes. "Can we please pretend I'm not wearing what I'm wearing?" She thanked God for a small favor: she was wearing a bra.

"Uh, sure. What would you like me to pretend you're wearing?"

Bonnie opened her eyes. She was a little rusty, but she was positive that counted as flirting. She crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to check on you. Can I come in, or do you make all your guests stand at the door?" The question was out of his mouth before he remembered that he was a vampire, and she might have reservations about inviting him in.

Bonnie didn't need time to ponder his danger level. "Come in." He hesitated, which she appreciated, and she raised her brows.

Tyler smiled and walked in.

Bonnie led him to the kitchen and made sure to keep her hands over her butt. Tyler wasn't looking at that, however. He was interested in the layout of her living room.

"Who is it?!" Her father screamed down.

"Tyler! Lockwood!" Bonnie yelled up. She got to the sink and turned and crossed her arms again.

Tyler put his hands in his pockets. "How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"I just….wanted to make sure you were okay after the whole thing earlier, you know, with Rebekah."

Bonnie smiled. "I'm fine. I'm the only one who didn't get hurt."

"I also wanted to thank you. For everything you did."

"It was nothing," she said with the shrug of a shoulder.

"You saved Kim's life, and you put Rebekah down. You found the dagger. Klaus won't find out what she found out. You saved my entire pack _and _me. That sounds like everything."

Bonnie smiled, bashful. Apparently instant shyness when a cute boy complimented her magical skills was a thing with her. Her heart trembled. In an effort to snap herself out of it, she asked, "So why didn't compulsion work on her?"

"Because I'm an Alpha. She's not just a Hybrid anymore; she's part of a pack. Werewolves can't be compelled by vampires, and she thinks that because our werewolf side is dominant enough for us to be a pack; it's protecting us from compulsion. I think she's right."

"That's very good. But it could also mean trouble with Klaus since they all still live with him."

"I know. She's going to tell the others not to give him any attitude."

She nodded. "So, um, where's Caroline?" she asked with a shrug of one shoulder.

"Uh, home, I think."

"Oh. I'm surprised to see you without her. She's been stuck to you like glue since school opened. Which is probably a bad thing to say considering what happened to her today," she said and rolled her eyes at her inappropriateness. Caroline had gotten slammed so hard on the ground that she'd been out of it for a good minute, and here she was being petty because of the comment she'd made in the tomb earlier.

Tyler smiled.

Bonnie cleared her throat. "Did you hear Stefan's okay?"

Tyler blinked slowly. "Yeah."

Bonnie chuckled. "You really don't like him." The group got annoyed with Damon all the time, but no one spoke a word or displayed any emotions against Stefan as far as she knew. Jeremy was disgusted by him for what he'd done to her mother, and he now really hated him after he'd forced Jeremy to kill a freshly turned convict two months ago. Other than that…..

Tyler said, "He doesn't give a damn about what I'm trying to do, said that what he wants is bigger than me, and then I kept his ass hostage for a little bit because I could."

"When did this happen?"

"The day of the festival."

"Wow. No wonder Caroline was mad at you. He's like her third best friend."

"Yeah, she was kind of there, too. She could've left any time she wanted, but she chose to stick with him." In more ways than one.

Bonnie nodded. "How's Kim doing?"

"She's fine. She found Rebekah's car after you told her to stay outside. The passenger window was smashed. Someone probably grabbed something, and that something was probably Rebekah's cell phone."

"Question is: was it Kol or was it April? If it was Kol, and there's something in there about April, then she's screwed."

"I don't know, but Kol's staying in town."

"What?"

Tyler nodded. "He was there when Kim got back to Klaus'. Turns out he won't bother looking for Rebekah himself, but he will fill Klaus in on what's going on so that he can look for her. He was all set to leave, but Klaus asked him to stay until he figured out what was going on."

"Does he know that Kim…?"

"No."

Bonnie understood now why he looked tired. The crisis wasn't averted. Rebekah was down, but Kol was still around. "He told Elena that Rebekah had hoped to compel her, Stefan and Caroline to get information. I'm guessing Kol was reinforcement. Did Klaus say what he planned on doing to find Rebekah?"

"He came to my house. He wanted to know if I'd seen anything or heard anything. I told him no. I'm positive he didn't believe me, especially since Caroline was involved. Shit."

"What?"

"I need to call Caroline and tell her not to tell Klaus anything."

"He might compel it out of her." Or he might not. She wasn't sure what their common mode of operation was.

Klaus could've tried to compel him. Which is why he had wanted to give him Bonnie. He'd wanted to tell him as much of the truth as he could: Bonnie had incapacitated Rebekah and then daggered her. But he hadn't wanted Bonnie to be blindsided, so he'd taken the risk and lied to Klaus.

"Listen," he began, "This is the worst thing I could possibly ask, and I really hate doing it, but...I need to be smart about this. For the sake of my pack. And smart is you. Remember I told you Hayley had a witch that she wanted to use to help me out with something?"

"Yeah."

"I'm going to kill Klaus. That's the something. That's what all of this is about for me, and the only people who knew were the pack, Hayley, and Caroline, but she went and told Stefan once this whole cure thing came into play-"

"And that's why they told you they needed Klaus: because he has the sword." More than anyone, Bonnie knew how bad it was for a Salvatore to be aware of a secret plan.

"Yeah. They want me to hold off on killing him until after they get the cure, and I still don't care. But this is getting out of hand. Rebekah knows at least one Hybrid can't be compelled, and now Kol's here. We need to move in on Klaus as soon as possible. I still don't trust Hayley." He hesitated. "But I do trust you. I've seen what you can do. Can you please help us?"

Bonnie lifted her shoulders and looked up at the ceiling.

"You don't have to say yes."

"Oh, I'm going to say yes," she chuckled.

"But you don't have to."

"I'm just thinking about how that's going to complicate what _I'm_ trying to do. Going after Klaus is working against the goal of getting the cure; it's working against Stefan, Damon, and Elena, and if I do that-"

"So you can't do it, then."

"I didn't say that."

"You just said that killing Klaus would work against you-"

"Yeah, but I don't need him to find the cure, especially if I get my hands on that sword."

"But you need him alive to have Stefan believe you're looking for the cure for Elena. Even if he does die, you can't have anything to do with it, otherwise they're going to question you."

"What are you doing? You asked for my help."

"Yeah, but I don't want you to say yes just because it's what you're used to saying! I'm not some nameless nobody that you can just say yes to without thinking about it. If you can't do it, then say no. I need your help, but it's not gonna break me or my pack if I don't get it."

"You know what? I think it's time for you to go. Clearly we're at the part of the conversation where you tell me I'm a brainless witch on auto pilot, which means you've said everything you need to say, so let me show you the door." She walked around him and didn't look back to see if he was following. She pulled the door open and put a hand on her hip and waited for him to leave.

Tyler kicked himself the whole way. When he got to the door, he paused in front of her.

Bonnie kept her eyes on the dark and quiet street.

"I'm sorry."

"Deja vu," she responded.

Right. He'd insulted her in detention, and then he'd insulted her at the festival and apologized at the festival. "I know," he acknowledged. "I really am sorry. I just...that's not how I wanted it to come out. That's not how I wanted any of it to come out. It wasn't even what I wanted to talk about. I want you to help me because you can and you're able to, not because you can't help but help. This day turned upside down in the blink of an eye: I almost lost someone else from my pack; we almost got caught; we could _still_ get caught; the others are wondering why I'm not just going with Hayley's plan, and while all of that is going on they are _still_ living with Klaus. And now with Rebekah figuring out that our pupils don't dilate, how long until Klaus figures it out?

I just feel like we're more behind than we were when this all started, and that's what I've been thinking about since I left the school, and it got worse after Kim texted me that Kol was staying in town. But at the end of this stressful ass day, I just wanted to kiss you. We dodged Rebekah, and we dodged Kol, and I just wanted to check on you and kiss you. Just hold you like before, in the bathroom, and just...relax. But I can't. We can't, because you walked away, and I have a girlfriend who's sticking to me like glue. So we're talking about this instead."

Bonnie swallowed. She wanted to kiss him, too. Now that he'd put it out there, she wanted to kiss him, and it would be really nice if he held her like earlier. She'd thought maybe the rest of winter break had cooled whatever he'd been feeling during the festival and even before that. She'd thought that their lack of communication meant the desire had passed. But here he was, telling her she'd thought wrong.

But she let him walk out of the house. He apologized again, and he wished her a good night, and she remained silent, and he left.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: All of your reactions to Caroline's insult had me grinning like a fool in the office! Especially since I just finished writing the chapter where they pop off at the mouth at each other :D. Y'all got a while to go, though.**

**Thank you for reviewing and enjoy this chapter! As promised, here is Tonnie's heart to heart theme song: Falling For You by The 1975. **

**Let me know what you think after you give it a listen! It seriously works as nice background music for every bonding moment they have from this chapter on.**

* * *

**Part 4: Tyler's Physique**

The next day, Bonnie was crabby. Her vagina was protesting again.

After Tyler left, she'd turned off the light in the kitchen and gone upstairs, told her father good night, and slid under her covers to satiate her libido. Getting to see Tyler's physique during his surprise visit had provided her with up-to-date material for her fantasies. But she'd wanted to do it differently this time. She'd wanted her body to be vibrating and buzzing while she brought herself off. So she'd tweaked the Blackout spell to capture the light in her bedroom.

And all she'd gotten for her effort was a warm palm. Just a palm! No buzzing, no vibration, no electricity, _nothing_. Because _apparently_, the light from a lightbulb was different from the artificial light in ceiling panels. Different energies. So lamp light captured just beneath her skin made her skin warm. And that was it. Her disappointment had been colossal.

And she was still disappointed when the sun came up. And her vagina was looking at her sideways. Because after the disappointing result of the spell, she'd decided not to masturbate at all last night, despite being horny. She'd saved it and fallen asleep with a half thought. Something about her birthday being in two months and Tyler looking like a present.

So now she was getting ready to leave for school and thinking that her next orgasm needed to come from Tyler, not herself. She wasn't going to orgasm again unless Tyler was stroking it out of her. Now that wasn't a _goal_, per se. Because that would mean she was intentionally on purpose planning to sleep with Tyler. And he had a girlfriend. And last she'd been told, her desperate kind needed to settle for a "creepy professor."

So it was a complete coincidence that she was lamenting the cold weather and wishing it was warmer so that she could wear something short enough to show off her mile-long legs in hopes of arresting Tyler's attention. At least her her black-washed jeans stuck to her legs like a second skin.

She grabbed her bag and keys from the dining room table. "Dad, I'm leaving," she announced when she got to the living room. "Are you doing visits today?"

"No, I'll be home all day working on this report."

"The one on the competitor?"

"Yeah," Rudy said and looked back at her and smiled.

Bonnie smiled and shook her head. He really got a kick out of how competitive drug companies were. "Have fun," she said.

"Will do. Have a good and _safe_ day in school."

Bonnie gave him a look. "Well the problem's been taken cared of," mostly, "so, will do."

She stepped outside and found Klaus Mikaelson leaning against her car. She closed and locked the door so as not to disturb her father.

"I said to myself," Klaus began when she got close to the driver's side, "That with Stefan out of commission and Damon gone training young Jeremy, you are the only cause left for my sister's current state."

"Get away from my car."

"Where is she?"

"Nowhere I'm gonna tell you."

"Break into her house, did you?"

"I'm surprised she had the dagger just lying around. I would think you would keep it with you for next time."

"Ah, but it was not I who woke her. That answer lies with her. Literally. And with all of...us...looking for the cure, it would behoove us to know if there's a new player in the game. Stefan agrees with me."

"So why isn't he having this conversation with me?"

"Crisis at the lakehouse. Caused by yours truly." He saw the change in her expression and said, "I'd assure you that young Jeremy's fine, but I don't know. Stefan will be back by this afternoon."

"This conversation is over, Klaus."

"Do you really think your father will stay inside _all_ day long?"

Bonnie stared at him with immense disinterest. "My father was married to a witch, had a witch for a mother-in-law, and," she shrugged to indicate herself, "is living with his witch daughter. Do you really think he's walking around this infested town like any old mortal?"

She savored his reaction. "Get out of my way."

Klaus stepped aside.

"And if you're telling the truth, and you didn't wake Rebekah, and there _is_ someone else at play, I'm sure they'll reveal themselves sooner or later."

* * *

April Young stood behind the school's auditorium and dropped her cigarette on the ground and crushed it with her boot. She's been smoking more since her father died. After the funeral, she'd been sneaking a smoke during school once a day. Since she found out about vampires, Hybrids, werewolves, and witches, she's been sneaking two smokes during school.

She waved at the air around her. It wasn't effective for getting the smell off her clothes, but she was out of body spray.

"Aren't you brave."

She looked over to see Caroline Forbes walking to her. She'd been expecting one of them. "Excuse me?"

"Your bodyguard's out of commission and here you are in a school filled with the same people you wanted to help kill yesterday."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," April answered.

"I'd say don't play dumb, but you did wake an Original vampire. How did you even know that that would work?"

April contemplated staying silent. Then she answered, "I didn't. I wanted that dagger to use on _you_. Or Elena. Or whoever could tell me what really happened to my father. I was sitting there thinking about my next move when she woke up."

"We're trying to figure out what happened to your father, too, April."

"Was lying to me part of that? How about compelling me? How about _feeding_ off of me?"

"No one fed on you on purpose. Being a vampire comes with growing pains. _I _saved your life. And we compelled you to keep you safe. You have no idea how dangerous this world is."

"I'm still standing, aren't I?"

"Barely. Did Rebekah tell you she has a psychotic older brother who doesn't like surprises? You're on thin ice, April. He's asking around, and he doesn't know about you, but he could. Very easily."

April smiled. "Is that a threat? What do you think me and Rebekah talked about over winter break? Like you said, I was going to help kill you all and yet here I am where any one of you could attack me. If you were stupid enough."

"You're bluffing."

"So call it."

* * *

Tyler stood from the table he was sharing with Matt and went to throw away his leftover lunch. He then went to deposit it at the designated return spot next to one of the six lunch lines. When he turned to head back, he saw Bonnie walking toward him. After upsetting her the night prior, he didn't expect her to bother speaking to him unless it was absolutely necessary. Which was a disappointing prospect.

"Hi," she greeted anxiously.

"Hey."

She was quiet, though she seemed to be trying to figure out what to say. Maybe she _had_ come over just to talk to him.

"Listen, um. I just wanted you to know that I still mean what I said last night. If you want my help, I will help."

"Uh, yeah. I want it. Thanks."

She nodded.

"I really appreciate it," he added.

Bonnie smiled. He was trying.

"Are you okay? You looked a little worried when you came up."

"Uh, Klaus came to see me this morning. Well, he was waiting for me when I stepped outside, threatened my dad and everything. He wanted to know where I was keeping Rebekah."

"Why does he think you know?"

"Process of elimination. Since it wasn't Stefan or Damon, then it must've been me. And get this: Stefan agrees with him that we need to figure out who woke Rebekah."

"Wait, Stefan was there?"

"No," she sighed. "He's at the lake house. Apparently Klaus is so impatient about growing Jeremy's mark that he sent a brood of vampires out there to attack him. Kill or be killed. I called Jeremy on my way to school. He says he's fine, but…"

It was inappropriate, because obviously there was cause for her to worry about Jeremy, but in light of his blunder last night he didn't feel spectacular about her worry for Jeremy. He knew that there was nothing better than the possibility of death or pain to bring two people closer. She might worry herself into reconsidering Jeremy's feelings for her.

"I'm sure he's fine," he responded. "But if you want to go out there and check, then you should. But I don't think he would lie to you," he said.

She smiled, "Oh, he'd definitely lie to me if it meant I wouldn't worry. It's just bad enough that he's out there with Damon; now he's got to fight off Klaus' goons."

"Bonnie, your dad-"

"He'll be fine. Klaus can't touch him. Literally. A little gift from my mom from when they became serious. My grams continued it after she left. He should be good through the end of this year, but I don't even know if it'll be any good against Klaus and his Original Hybrid-ness. I might've bluffed a little bit. But don't worry."

"I am worried. This is what I was talking about yesterday."

"Yeah, but I put Rebekah down before I agreed to help you," she pointed out with a smile.

Tyler smiled back at her.

"Anyways. Stefan knows that April Young woke Rebekah. I mean Caroline knows, and Elena knows, so I can't imagine one or both of them didn't tell him."

"So, he's protecting her from Klaus," Tyler concluded.

"She needs it. I can't imagine why she'd agree to help Rebekah."

"I can. It doesn't take much to agree with an Original. They're quick with the threats."

Suddenly, Caroline's voice sounded behind Bonnie. "She thinks she's tough shit."

Tyler looked up and Bonnie turned around. "Who?" she asked.

"April Young. I just spoke to her by the auditorium, you know, tried to scare some sense into her, _reason_ with her, but she basically told me to do my worst. She's out to get us because she thinks we had something to do with her dad's death."

"April's human; how does she hope to survive all of this, especially without Rebekah?" Bonnie asked.

"Maybe she's got Kol, too," Tyler posited.

Bonnie took a quick moment to appreciate how much closer to her he'd moved and how sexy his voice sounded from this proximity.

"She did make it sound like she had backup," Caroline reported. "Or like she and Rebekah had come up with a contingency plan. I just wish I could rip that bracelet off and compel her to forget everything."

Bonnie's phone buzzed in her back pocket. She took it out and opened the text from an unknown number. She gasped and held on to the phone with both hands when the picture of a battered Shane loaded with the caption _any old mortal_. "Oh my God."

"Who is that?" Tyler asked

"What is it?" Caroline asked at the same time.

"It's Shane," she whispered. "He's the professor who replaced my grams. He used to be her TA, and he gave me a tour of Whitmore, and he's into-I need to go. No, I need to call."

Tyler trained his ears on the call.

"Bonnie Bennett, I presume."

"You're not Klaus."

"Kol Mikaelson. I don't believe I've had the pleasure."

"Oh, you've had the pleasure. I'm the reason you and your line are still alive."

"Whitmore College, parking lot G, ground floor, near the broadcast building, two and a half hours. I think that's fair, given traffic. Come with either my sister or with her whereabouts. Fail to come, and I beat him to death. Come late, and I beat him for every minute you're late until you show up or he dies."

Bonnie stared at her phone when he cut the call off. "I need to go," she said quietly, and she headed off.

"We'll come with you," Caroline said.

Bonnie turned and said, "He'll expect me to come with people."

"So what? So we give him what he expects," Tyler said.

Bonnie nodded and let them follow. They stopped by their respective tables to grab their things. They had B lunch, which meant they were going to a different class after.

"Are we giving him Rebekah?" Caroline asked once they managed to sneak out of the building.

Bonnie looked at Tyler, and he answered her silent question, "If we have to."

"I want to kill Kol," Bonnie said to him.

"Well, the Salvatores have the White Oak Stake, and we can't use it on him without killing off his entire line," Caroline said.

"I think if I could just get that stake, I could rework it so it doesn't do that. Maybe scrape off some of the ash or something and make another weapon." Perhaps with the sword in Klaus' possession.

"It's indestructible," Caroline pointed out.

"But I wouldn't be trying to destroy it," Bonnie countered.

Caroline lifted her head slowly as she realized her point. "There's no one at the Salvatore house right now."

"We have two and a half hours," Tyler reminded them.

"So are we splitting up?" Caroline asked.

Bonnie looked at Tyler who looked at Bonnie.

Caroline licked her lips. It was obvious how they'd already handled the split in their heads. "If Klaus finds out you went up against Kol, and he will, he'll make you pay for it," she told Tyler.

"Not if we give him Rebekah," Bonnie said. "He'll be fine."

Caroline looked at Bonnie. She doubted that. Still, she smiled and nodded.

"It'll be fine, Care," Tyler said. "We'll be back."

"How long will this take? Will the stake be back in its place before they realize it's gone?"

"Probably not," Bonnie answered. "But when they ask, I'll tell them the truth. I need it to make a weapon against Kol and Klaus because of what they did today."

* * *

When the two got inside Bonnie's car, Tyler felt like bringing up the look that Caroline had just given Bonnie, but he really wasn't ready to address it. Besides, he was at the root of that look. He knew that it was because of what Caroline had seen at the festival. He could've gone to the Salvatore house to get the dagger, but he preferred to be Bonnie's backup, especially after how much she'd done to help with Rebekah.

"Do we have a plan?" he asked when they were well on their way.

"I'm going through options in my head: if we give him Rebekah, that means we have 13 days until she wakes up, which means _you_ have 13 days to kill Klaus."

"Can't you cast another spell on her while she's sleeping?"

"I'd either need to get close to her or get something that belongs to her. I guess the latter's easy. But if Rebekah's awake, then that means Kol stays in town, and then there's the April factor, and then there's what Rebekah knows."

"Can you erase her memory?"

"There's a spell in my mom's grimoire, but it comes with a powder component. I'd need to be close enough to throw it in her face."

"So that's out."

"Then there's the taking out Kol option. If we do _anything_ to him, Klaus finds out. Knock him out, bury him, if he doesn't contact Klaus with memories perfectly in tact, then we have Klaus' wrath to deal with."

"Yeah, and he's been calm about Rebekah so far."

And Bonnie knew that this was indeed calm for Klaus.

"So then we give him Rebekah," Tyler said. "And we have 13 days."

"Yeah," she nodded as she thought it through. "I included time in the spell, so it's binding. There's no reversing it; it has to play out."

Tyler reached for her hand on the emergency break and covered it with his. She looked tense. "It's gonna be okay. Everything will be okay." It was rare that he got to be the one doing the comforting as opposed to the one being comforted.

Bonnie's smile was tight. "You know, Caroline's right: Kol will tell Klaus you were there."

Tyler pushed the boundary and interlaced their fingers. "I'll deal with it."

Her tight smile relaxed, and she squeezed his hand. It was incredible how she could want him in the middle of all of this. She remembered what he'd said last night, about wanting to kiss and hold her at the end of the day. She very much wanted time to stop so that she could hide in his embrace.

Tyler started to stroke her thumb, and he didn't stop until they arrived.

* * *

Over at the Salvatore mansion, Caroline had checked both occupied bedrooms (and shaken her head at Elena's possessions in Damon's room), the bathrooms, the unoccupied rooms, the kitchen, and the library (including the empty spaces between some of the books). She found nothing. Unless there was some secret wall safe she didn't know about, which was very likely, then the dungeon was her last shot.

She walked down the stairs and pushed the creaky door open. Even as a vampire, she realized the thing was hard to push due to years of rust. Considering how much use Stefan and Damon got out of it, shouldn't they oil it up?

She looked at every corner. Nothing. She sent up a silent prayer, (her mother still insisted on taking her to church and held her hand tight during every sermon out of some irrational fear that she'd get struck down), and removed the new-ish blankets and worn mattress from the tiny bed. Just as she suspected, the bed had two small drawers. She opened the one to her right and saw a long, bulky black cloth and smiled. She gently lifted it out and turned it until she found the ends of the cloth and unwrapped it. She unveiled one jagged, silver and white White Oak stake.

She wrapped it back up and closed the drawer. She put the mattress back on the bed and caught a figure in her left peripheral.

"Jesus! What is wrong with you?!"

"Me?" Stefan asked. "I live here."

"You scared the hell out of me."

He smiled. "What are you doing, Caroline?"

"What are _you_ doing? You're supposed to be helping Elena, Damon, and Jeremy with Klaus' vampires at the Lakehouse. I thought you moved out so Damon and Elena could….."

"I know. But I go out of town and when I come back I go where I'm used to. I was taking off my jacket in the living room before I remembered where I'm actually supposed to be. Jeremy's fine. Some of Klaus' vampires are dead. Most ran away. I guess he didn't compel them. Your turn: what are you doing?"

"Grabbing the White Oak stake for Bonnie." She sat down on the bed and held the stake between her legs. She looked at the bed and said, "This thing is hard and uncomfortable."

"It's been a dungeon for a while now," he said as he walked in. "And I'd hazard a guess that the person who first claimed this room and this bed back when it was a sleeping quarter wasn't comfortable either." He sat next to her. "What does Bonnie want with the stake?"

"Kol's kidnapped professor Shane on Klaus' order. Bonnie wants to scrape some ash from the stake to make a new weapon. That way no other vampire needs to die when we stake an Original."

"That's a good idea," Stefan said thoughtfully. "I didn't tell him about April. I had no idea he'd go to Shane."

"Bonnie's going to give him Rebekah; she doesn't have a choice. Which means we're gonna be up against Klaus _and _Rebekah for the cure."

"Don't be so sure. After what Klaus did, Rebekah's more likely to try to get in his way."

"That seems to be her intention, but she always goes back to him. Right?"

Stefan sighed. "Right."

Five seconds was too long a time for Caroline to be quiet, especially when there was a crisis, so Stefan said, "I'm sure everything will be fine. It's gonna be hard, but it's gonna be fine. It always works out."

"Barely," Caroline mumbled. "But it's not that." She turned her body towards Stefan and said, "You know Tyler's still mad at me over this whole cure thing, right? He's still mad that I told you about his plans for Klaus, and he's _still_ mad that he has to wait."

"Well that's just something he's gonna have to get over. Look, I didn't mean to put you in a tough position-"

"No, I can handle it. Trust me, I know how important this is. I've watched my best friend spiral into an abyss and she thinks she likes it there. I'm one second away from washing my hands and _leaving_ her there, so, yeah, we do need to find the cure."

"I know this is hard for him after what Klaus has put him through. Revenge and impatience tend to go hand and hand, trust me I know. But we _need _Klaus to find the cure."

"I know. I thought my biggest problem was his suicide mission against Klaus, but…."

"What?"

Caroline weighed her options.

"What is it, Caroline?"

"I think he's seeing someone else, or….is at least _into_ someone else."

"What? Who?"

"I don't know," she lied. She wasn't ready to put Bonnie out there. "But he's distant and just….not how he used to be."

"You must have it wrong. Tyler loves you; you've been through a lot together; you've _survived _a lot-"

"You mean like you and Elena?"

"That's different."

"Is it? Didn't you sense when she started to drift towards Damon? Did you doubt yourself about it?"

Stefan sighed and clasped his hands between his legs. "That was a special circumstance. I _wanted_ Damon and Elena to get close. I knew right away that she'd be good for him, a good influence, because, heck, she was a good influence on me. And it worked. It was working. Shaky, but working, which I guess is the most you can ask for of Damon. But….yes, I sensed it. But I counted on his hot temper and general bad side to always repulse her. And I guess that was stupid, because I always expected her to love _me_ no matter how ugly I got. I'm the Ripper."

"That's different," Caroline consoled. "You try. It's not stupid to expect your _girlfriend_ to be loyal. Damon doesn't try, which is why I'm thankful for the sire bond in a weird way, because otherwise Elena would be a complete stranger to me."

"She stayed at the lakehouse with him. They'll be coming up together."

Caroline shook her head.

Stefan looked at her and said, "Tyler would be stupid to cheat on you. You're the best thing that ever happened to him."

She smiled.

"Which is why I think you're wrong: Tyler's a lot of things, but he isn't stupid."

"Okay, so you know I don't judge you on your Ripper thing. I judge you based on who you want to be, who you've _shown_ me to be, right?"

"Right," Stefan answered, skeptical of where this was going.

"Okay, so I need you to do me the same favor, because I'm about to say something, and I know it's stupid; it's super stupid and dumb and makes no sense and couldn't possibly be-"

"Caroline."

Caroline exhaled sharply. "I'm not wrong about him being into someone else. And I know I'm not wrong because on some level I kind of think….the universe is punishing me."

"For what?"

She inhaled and lowered her chin to her chest, "Because," she sighed and dropped her chest. She closed her eyes and continued, "Because of how I feel about Klaus."

Silence.

She opened one eye and found Stefan looking at her inquisitively. "What?" she asked.

"What, what? I'm waiting for you to continue, because you can't possibly mean what I think you mean."

"I do. I mean I don't like him like him; just...he kind of grew on me."

"Caroline."

"_What_? Are you not the same guy I spoke to the night of the festival who agreed that it was kind of sucky that we're basically using Klaus for this cure knowing he's gonna get jumped by the Hybrids and die at the end of it?"

Stefan sighed.

"You see some good in him; I know you do, or at least you see something you relate to, am I right?"

Stefan thought a moment. "Klaus knew me during a period of my life that….no one else got to witness. When he dies, _if_ he dies, that'll be it. Rebekah was there, but I didn't talk to her about it the way I did with him. He was the first person who ever..._valued_ that side of me. Not that that's anything to be thankful for, but I...I kind of am. If he dies, then that's gone, and it becomes something only I know. After living a century, I can tell you that there are some things about yourself and your experiences that you need at least one person to know about and understand. You need at least one person who knows you completely. Lexi was that kind of someone, too, but she wanted to fix me. Klaus, I guess, appealed to the side of me that didn't want to be fixed."

"The Ripper side?" Caroline asked.

Stefan looked at her and told her what she expected to hear: "Yeah."

She faced forward. "He appeals to a side of me, too," she admitted softly. "It's this weird side that I _don't_ wanna explore or know about, but he does."

Stefan wanted to ask how anything about Klaus could appeal to her when he's hurt her so many times, but he figured that'd be akin to asking Elena what she sees in Damon: nothing he'd understand or want to hear. He had known Klaus before the Original had turned his monstrosity on him. Caroline only met Klaus _because _he'd turned his monstrosity on her. Maybe she had more in common with Elena than she was willing to admit.

"But I love Tyler," she continued. "Which is not easy. It hasn't been easy for, God, so long. But I don't wanna talk about that."

"You can if you want to."

"No, it's….it's bad. It's not something I should be thinking, especially since he didn't ask for any of the stuff that's happened to him. He's still figuring it out. And on the other side, Klaus _already_ has it all figured out, which he _never_ fails to point out."

"Klaus has made Tyler's life a living hell," Stefan said, and he suddenly felt like he and Tyler were wearing the same shoes.

"I _know_. Okay, that's enough talking about this. I'm done. It's an ugly topic, and I'm done. The point is that Tyler's straying, and I know it for a fact. Call it woman's intuition."

Stefan didn't say anything. He knew she wasn't really done. She couldn't be. Elena never was, and look at the choice she'd made. But maybe Caroline would end up being stronger than her. He doubted it. But she could surprise him. At least she was worried about losing Tyler. It was Tyler who seemed to be making the stupid decision.

* * *

"Shane?" Bonnie crouched next to him and stopped herself from lifting his head. "Shane, you're okay. You're safe now. God, he's so messed up," she said as she used the sleeve of her jacket to tenderly wipe the blood on his face.

"Not for long." Tyler bit his wrist and fed it to him. He trusted that if Bonnie didn't think he should expose himself to this professor, then she would say something.

Feeding him was slow-going at first. Kol did a number on him; he could barely open his mouth to drink. Tyler forewent his wrist and bit the fleshy part of his arm. There was no point in him wasting so much blood. He had to bite himself two more times before Shane grew strong enough to suck.

Shane yanked his mouth from Tyler's arm as soon as he was able. He sat up, barely able to see, and coughed uncontrollably. "That's not something I've ever had before," he said when he could speak. "Not that I don't appreciate the gesture." He wiped his mouth and broke into another coughing fit.

"Don't move so fast," Bonnie cautioned. She looked around the garage. It was a pretty secluded spot. "We need to get you home."

"I need a minute," Shane said.

"I know. I'm so sorry about this."

"This was your doing?"

"He was trying to force my hand."

"I hope it worked."

Tyler remembered now that he'd seen this man speaking to Hayley at the Miss Mystic pageant.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Bonnie asked.

"Uh. I was going to my car to get some papers I'd forgotten-oh man, my class probably thinks I disappeared on them. This man with a British accent called out to me when I got to the garage. I knew I didn't know him, but he insisted that he had business with me. Next thing I know I was hit in the face."

Bonnie closed her eyes and shook her head. "That was Kol Mikaelson, an Original vampire."

"Ori-My specialty is witches."

Bonnie smiled. "Yeah, well they're kind of a big deal. And dangerous," she added and gently touched his face.

"I'll be fine. Thanks to you," he said to Tyler. "This stuff works like magic."

"You're taking this pretty well," Tyler said.

"Well, I know that Bonnie is a prodigy of the Bennett line. I know what comes with that territory, although considering we haven't spoken since before the pageant, this really did take me by surprise," he said to Bonnie.

"Did Kol say anything to you?" Bonnie asked. "Anything at all?"

"No, just that this was necessary and that I would be rescued any minute."

"Okay, can you stand?"

"I think so."

"Okay, let's get you home."

"I think I'll be okay."

"You just got jumped by an Original. That's not something you can just walk off, even with vampire blood," Tyler pointed out.

Shane nodded. Bonnie and Tyler helped him stand while he racked his brain trying to remember if everything in his apartment was in order. He didn't want them in his place, but he couldn't protest without raising suspicion. This attack was exactly what he'd needed to get Bonnie back in his orbit.

He divined his future at the beginning of every month, sometimes at the beginning of the week if he deemed it necessary, a cultural holdover from his original time. Since Hayley had made contact with Tyler and he'd positioned himself in Connor Jordan's life, reading his future once a week had become very necessary.

When he'd divined earlier in the week that terrible fortune would befall him, he hadn't known how to interpret it. He'd contacted Hayley to make sure everything was okay with Tyler. She was still having trouble getting back in, though Rebekah's attack had opened their line of communication again.

When Kol called his attention, he hadn't thought anything of it. When the man switched to intimidation, he'd realized that his fortune was playing out. And he'd surrendered to Kol's beating in hopes of gaining the sympathy of Qetsiyah's youngest daughter.

Now he let Bonnie hoist him in her car as Tyler went back to his office to get his keys in order to drive his car.

* * *

When they got to the apartment, Shane was able to carry himself up with no support. Still, Bonnie doted on him. Tyler found it weird, though in a good way.

The heavy odor of Shane's apartment accosted them as soon as they walked in. Tyler had to cover his nose.

"Uh, sorry," Shane apologized.

Tyler shook his head. He couldn't figure out what the hell he was smelling, just that they were all herbs, probably with some incense mixed in.

"Where's your bedroom?" Bonnie asked.

Shane chuckled. "Really, I'm fine." Bonnie gave him a disapproving look, so he relented and pointed to the hallway that led to his bedroom. He wanted them gone. He didn't want Tyler picking up any smells, and while he'd taken the appropriate steps to dull Bonnie's premonitions and psychic readings, there was so much energy contained in his apartment, something might set her off.

"You should take your clothes off and get in the shower," Bonnie prescribed.

"Okay."

"I'll make you some tea. Do you have tea? Oh, do you have more of that spirit incense you gave me? It calms me down, so it would really work wonders for you right now."

"I'm out of that," he lied, "but I do have tea: chamomile, lavender, and this really nice California Poppy tea."

"Poppy?" Tyler questioned. "Like the opium kind?"

Shane chuckled. "A lot more mild. But I do collect the dried seed pods for that incense, Bonnie."

"Okay, I'll go make the tea while you….take care."

Tyler followed her out of the bedroom. "I'm getting the sense that this guy touches himself to the idea of being a witch."

"Hey," Bonnie whispered and smacked his arm.

He smiled. "I'm serious. Like, what is this smell?" He covered his nose again.

"I have no idea. I can't make any of it out, but I'm not surprised his place smells like this," she said as she searched the cupboards for the California Poppy. "He really does love this stuff."

Tyler began a search of his own.

"What are you doing?" Bonnie whispered when she noticed he was wandering.

Tyler put his index finger over his lips and continued his search.

Bonnie looked toward Shane's bedroom and hoped Tyler was ready to not get caught. She heard the faucet running.

Shane had a fancy-looking hot water dispenser, and she figured out how to work it. She poured filtered water in and waited for it to get hot. She procured a tea cup, saucer, a container of sugar, and a teaspoon.

"There's a second room," Tyler said quietly when he came back into the kitchen. "It's locked, though. But there's more of that weird smell behind it. I couldn't hear anything."

"What are you so suspicious about?" Bonnie asked quietly. She looked at the kitchen's entrance to make sure they were still alone.

"I think he knows Hayley."

"What?"

"I saw them talking at the Miss Mystic pageant."

"He was judging that. It was probably small-talk."

"Damon didn't think so."

"Da-okay, Damon? Damon thinks everything and everyone is suspicious."

"Maybe. I asked Hayley if she knew him, and she said no."

"And you don't believe her?"

"I don't know if I can trust her, remember?"

Bonnie thought a moment. "Damon is usually right about the people he doesn't trust. But let's talk about this later."

* * *

Tyler eventually had to step out of the apartment. The smell was just too much.

Bonnie sat in front of Shane's bed and watched him sip the tea.

"What's gonna happen next?" he asked.

"Well, I gave Kol what he wanted. They're waiting for me in Mystic Falls to, um, complete my end of the deal. There's one more thing I need to do before he can really get his sister back. I just never thought they'd come all the way to Whitmore to make a point."

"Who's they?"

Bonnie shook his head. "No one you need to worry about."

Shane nodded.

"I'm really sorry."

"This wasn't your fault. Vampires are known for this type of stuff, right?"

"A lot of them, yeah." Bonnie reached out and touched his hand. "I'll call you to find out how you're doing."

"Okay. And listen, this type of stuff doesn't scare me. I've seen magical rituals that were downright terrifying. I'll be fine. And if you need anything or….just anything: you can call me."

Bonnie smiled. "I'll remember that."

"And thank your friend Tyler for me."

"I will."

* * *

The clean afternoon air had a debilitating effect on Bonnie when she stepped outside to join Tyler. Her nose prickled, and her stomach rolled, and her vision swam. She thought it was going to pass, but then she saw black and her head became very light.

"Woah!" Tyler exclaimed and caught her when she started to fall back. He propped her head in the crook of his arm as she came back to herself. "Everything's fine," he said to a tenant who was heading inside the building and trying not to look at them. Nice neighbors.

Bonnie's vision cleared, but blood rushed to her head. She pressed the heel of her palm against her forehead.

"What's happening?" Tyler asked.

"I don't know. I think it's those smells. Delayed reaction, I think."

"Delayed reaction? You almost passed out."

"I think I'm okay now," she said. She hoisted herself to a sitting position. "That was weird."

Tyler looked back at the apartment building.

"Something in that room must've affected me. Like, I was fine while I was there and once I was away from it, the effect kicked in. Or maybe it's an allergy."

"That's a crazy allergy, and what you're talking about needs prolonged exposure. You were in there for like twenty minutes tops."

"It must've been strong," Bonnie said. She stood up with Tyler's support. "I'm okay now. Promise." She pulled at her nose to try to get rid of the remnants of the smell.

"Let's go," Tyler said. He wrapped his left arm around her waist and held her left hand with his right. He looked back at the apartment building a final time before they left.

* * *

Rebekah was free from the tomb but trapped in a troubled sleep. She had let Tyler out of the car when they got back to Mystic Falls and met up with who she'd thought was going to be Kol in the tomb. It had been Klaus. And the first question out of his mouth had been, "Where's Tyler?"

Kol had squealed.

"Picking up his car at school," she'd answered truthfully.

Instead of bringing the seals down, she'd saved her energy and walked inside the tomb to telekinetically retrieve Rebekah. When Klaus had seen the infected bite gashes on Rebekah's arms, she'd made a mental note to text Tyler ASAP. Klaus had glared at her and then grabbed Rebekah from midair and carried her out.

She had also driven to Caroline's house and retrieved the dagger and updated her on Shane's condition.

Now she was home, showered, had already called Shane to check on him, and had laid out the spirit incense in her bedroom. After the strong scents in Shane's bedroom, she felt like mellowing out with the spirit incense before she went to sleep.

But first, Tyler was coming over.

When she opened the door in a semi-sheer, purple, quarter-sleeve shirt and black skinny jeans and black flats with her hair down, Tyler looked her over and said, "Don't plan on going to sleep tonight?"

"Ha ha."

"I liked the going-to-bed look."

She closed the door behind her and went left to sit on the big swing daybed that had been a staple on her porch since she was in 6th grade. She'd read most of her romance novels while lying down on it during the summer. There was no way to sit on it and have the feet hang, so she and Tyler took of their shoes, sat, and scooted back twice. That was all it took for their backs to be resting comfortably. There were three bright throw pillows on each side, her choices: one yellow, one floral with blues, pinks, and yellows, and one coral on the left; one yellow, one with a white and grey chevron, and one with a white and green chevron on the right.

She folded her legs while Tyler bent his right knee and let his left leg lie straight. The tip of his black sock covered heel hung off the bed. She grabbed the white and green pillow and held it to her chest.

"Klaus came to see me," Tyler said and began tugging on the right hem of his pants.

"I knew it."

"Wanted to know why I lied to him about Rebekah. I asked him if he was surprised. He said he should've compelled the truth out of me the first time, but that he'd given me the benefit of the doubt as his first Hybrid."

Bonnie scoffed.

"I told him that Rebekah _did_ mean to compel me, and she would've succeeded had it not been for you."

"Nice."

Tyler smiled. "He assumed that's why I bit her twice. Said she's not gonna be 'fond of that,'" he imitated Klaus' accent, "when she wakes up."

Bonnie smiled. "Hopefully she'll be dead by then. Or he'll be dead by then."

"I'd rather he be dead by then."

"Yeah, but just in case, I need to talk to my mom about something."

"How are you doing?" he asked.

She looked at him and smiled. "I'm fine. I haven't felt light-headed again or anything."

"Good."

"Thanks again for coming with me."

"It's no problem. I'd do it again," he added.

Flattered, she smiled.

They sat in silence and listened to the cars still driving on the main street by Bonnie's neighborhood. It was 10:53, and Tyler had come this late because Caroline had gone to his house after Bonnie had picked up the dagger. And while Caroline had been upset and ranting in her head about why Tyler hadn't bothered to call her to tell her how everything had gone, she had let none of that show when he opened the door. Besides, Bonnie had told her about Klaus asking for him, so she'd figured maybe he was distracted and trying to figure out how to lie to Klaus. She'd wanted to hang out at his house, just the two of them, but of course Hayley had shown up. Of course, she understood why Hayley was staying in his house, but she was still annoyed and wished the girl would take a hint.

So she'd ended up asking Tyler to come to her house later. They'd cuddled on her couch and watched a stand-up comedy special, her idea to get him to relax and be in the moment. When she'd reached down in the middle of him laughing and grabbed his penis, Tyler had grabbed her hand and spoken one of the four excuses he'd come up with before he left his house in case things took a turn in _that_ direction.

"So why do you think Shane's suspicious?" Bonnie asked.

"I don't. I'm just trying to figure out what's bugging me about Hayley."

"Have you talked to her?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "I talked to her over winter break. She's still gone most of the time that I'm home. But I let her know that I didn't want to move as quickly as she did; that my gut was telling me to take a little time and not rush into it. And I also told her that we've gotten lucky with the people we've changed. Some of us really didn't mind Klaus' lifestyle. There are two Hybrids who have never been compelled because they see eye to eye with Klaus, and that's something I don't think she got. She told me we also can't let the opportunity pass us by, especially with Klaus looking for the cure."

"He wants Elena human so he can make more Hybrids."

"I know; Caroline told me."

"So I guess we should talk about our plans for killing him." She set the pillow aside and hugged her knees. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well the original plan was for us to maul him to death in our werewolf forms. It'd be kind of poetic, you know?"

Bonnie smiled.

"Then Hayley got the idea of using a witch, and I figured it'd be better if she did the spell you did a couple of months ago: put Klaus in my body and then bury him in concrete until the others could get away." He looked at Bonnie and got the exact reaction he'd expected. She looked horrified.

"Tyler, how in the world is that better?"

"Because the first idea has too many risks, number one being Klaus managing to kill one or more of us. Us turning into werewolves doesn't make him any less invincible."

"Yeah, but if you became werewolves, then he'd have to switch, too, in order to fight you. And powers are like muscles: if you spend years not using them, they don't grow. My mom and my cousin told me that. They say it's like that for everyone. So Klaus is a very strong vampire, but as a werewolf he should be nothing. Basically on your level."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. They've been witches a lot longer than me. And I'm not burying you in concrete. How long did you plan on being buried?"

"Until there was a way to kill Klaus."

Bonnie was astonished. "You planned on being possessed indefinitely? What about your life?"

Tyler smiled ruefully. "What life? I have no life, Bonnie. And what I can claim of it consists of running and of being away from everything that I know. I can't remember the time before I was scared of Klaus. Caroline had the same reaction as you: what about prom? I don't-I don't even remember the schools I applied to. I honestly couldn't tell you. I only applied because of my mom, but I only see as far as Klaus. There'd be nothing to miss."

"What about the people who'd be missing you?"

He smiled and asked, "Would you have missed me, Bonnie?"

She smiled. "If it had happened before we talked at the Festival, I wouldn't have missed you as much as I would now," she answered honestly. "I would've been sad, but it would've been more like 'this life sucks' and not 'I really miss Tyler.' And I wasn't talking about me; I was talking about your mom and Caroline. And Matt?"

"This is bigger than them. To borrow Stefan's words." He smiled.

"It's brave," Bonnie said.

Those words touched his heart. He thought of his goal to kill Klaus as more stupid than brave. Her spin on it was unexpected and nice. And suddenly he was at the part of the day where he wanted to kiss her. "As soon as I brought the others into this, I became responsible for them. And I've been failing so far. I lost Dean and Chris, not to mention Dylan, even though he brought that on himself. If nothing else, even if Klaus doesn't die, I need the others to get away. Because I promised them freedom before anything else."

"I can make that happen," Bonnie promised.

"What about you?" he asked and scooted closer to her. He folded his legs and rested his left arm on the back of the bed. "What's your plan for saving your mom?"

"I'm working with her on it. Her and my cousin Lucy. We're doing it all by phone. Lucy's been asking the spirit realm through her ouija board. The risk with that is that spirits talk. If we're too loose with the information, they could get it out to living witch. The one thing we've got going for us is that most witches, most supernaturals, have either never heard of the cure or think it's a myth. But they want me to get my hands on Klaus' sword to see if there's a magical reaction when I touch it."

"That's a thing?"

"Oh yeah. There was a talisman that's now destroyed. It belonged to my great-great-whatever-great grandmother: Emily Bennett-"

"Emily Bennett? I know that name. I don't remember from what, but I know that name."

"Is it from your ancestors' journals? Cause that's pretty much where she shows up."

"No, my family burned their journals-when she got caught," he remembered. "She got caught, so they burned every record that could point to them as werewolves."

"So how do you know this?" Bonnie wondered.

"Because they switched to writing their accounts on this cave that's on our property. Damon discovered it last year."

"Yeah, I remember that. I went down there once. I only saw stuff about the Originals."

"That's at the entrance. There's more if you go deeper."

"Does it say anything else about Emily?"

Tyler licked his bottom lip. "Why don't I take you down there sometime and you can find out?"

Bonnie was sure she made quite the picture: squeezing her lips together so that she wouldn't smile, which just ended up being its own form of a smile. She bit the inside of her bottom lip and looked out into the street. She was warm all over. "So anyways, once I had the talisman-"

"Is that a yes?"

"_It wouldn't leave me alone_," she answered with a wide smile that lit up her face.

Tyler chuckled and felt his dick swell in yearning. She was absolutely beautiful. He decided that asking a girl to go spelunking with him to learn about her ancestor might be the smoothest thing he's ever done.

"I tried to get rid of it," Bonnie continued, "and it just kept coming back to me. I chucked it into a _field_. Next thing I know it was in my purse. Damon tried to take it off my chest and Caroline tried to take it off my chest, and it zapped them. And there was this other thing," she said thoughtfully. "Shane brought this tombstone to school for an exhibit, said it's thought to be the world's first tombstone. He said it was put on the grave of this very old witch named Silas. I helped him set up the display, and when he showed me that rock….I swear it called to me. I fell into a trance, I do that sometimes, and next thing I knew Shane was grabbing my hand and turns out I was about to touch it."

"Did he notice?"

"No. He said it was too priceless for me to touch. He said the curator only wanted him handling some of the items, which he'd told me at the beginning. I haven't thought about that rock again until now."

"Why do you think it was calling to you?"

"I don't know. But magical objects have...a temperament. That's why the sword might react to a witch touching it. I almost forgot what we were talking about," she said with a chuckle.

"You think the tombstone is magical?"

That was something else she hadn't considered.

"Why would a witch have a magical tombstone?" he asked. "Wouldn't they just have a normal one like they do today? Or maybe that was how witches did it back then?"

"I don't know," she answered. "But he was killed by a witch."

She told him Qetsiyah and Silas' story.

"Maybe she buried him out of love and then cast a spell on his tombstone," Tyler posited when she was finished.

"But why? What was the spell supposed to do? Why make it magical at all?"

"To keep people from finding him? Or she loved him but thought his grave should remain unfound by other people because he was such an asshat?"

She needed to talk to Shane about Silas and his headstone. Did magical objects randomly pull witches? When Elena's necklace had floated in the air and zapped her, there had been more to the story than met the eye. A whole lot more. Perhaps it would behoove her to get close to the headstone again.

"Are you okay?" Tyler asked. She looked like she was figuring out a thousand things.

"Yeah. I just wonder why I never thought the tombstone might be magical."

"Well, it's not like you have a buttload of down time."

She smiled.

"So we need to get the sword," he declared.

"We?"

"Yeah. I don't see why this can't be fifty-fifty."

She smiled. "Tyler, I don't want you to get hurt."

"I don't want you to get hurt either. And you can't just sneak into Klaus' house like you did Rebekah's. I, on the other hand, have every believable reason to show up at his house."

She nodded and smiled through her pursed lips. "That's a good point."

It was easy for him to lift his hand from the back of the bed to play with the hair at the nape of her neck.

Bonnie's vagina quivered, and she looked at the house across from hers. Jesus. But it felt really good, and the way he used his thumb to stroke her hair and the skin around it inspired thoughts of him using his thumb exactly like that on her vulva.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you something," he said. "Yesterday at school when we were in the bathroom with the others, what was happening to you? You looked off, and you sounded off."

"Oh. Um." She smiled nervously. "It was the spell." She slumped her shoulders when he waited for her to elaborate. "It had an effect on me, one I wasn't expecting. When I caused the blackout, I literally took the light. I didn't think it was going to turn out literal, but it did. So I held the energy that creates those lights….inside me. And it was….kind of like a….vibration."

What she was saying sunk in and Tyler raised an eyebrow. "Really," he said, his voice dropping.

Bonnie rolled her eyes, mostly embarrassed, a little bit hoping the information was having an effect on him the way him stroking her neck was having an effect on her.

"So in the bathroom, were you….?" He lifted his eyebrows.

Bonnie mimicked him.

He grinned. "Were you having an orgasm?"

She'd known that that was going to be his question and yet she still wanted to clutch some invisible pearls. The way he'd said _orgasm_….why wasn't her birthday sooner?

"_No_," she answered. "I wasn't having….an orgasm. I was just…." She cleared her throat. God he was cute. "Turned on."

Tyler's lips parted. The memory of her by that door suddenly became a whole lot better. He traced the skin behind her ear. "When you were looking at me while I was biting Rebekah, what were you thinking?"

"I really don't think I should answer that," Bonnie said, transfixed.

"I want you to," Tyler said quietly.

But there was nothing quiet about the look in his eyes. The porch light showed all, and he was looking at her like the right answer would have her spread-eagle on the swing bed. That look made the inner walls of her vagina sweat.

"Sexy," she said, though that spoke more of her opinion of his current state than his state in the bathroom. Of the moment in the bathroom, she said, "Strong. Powerful. You just….oozed…."

She was literally staring at him with her mouth agape. Tyler swallowed with some difficulty and thought about that mouth taking care of him where he needed it most right now. He shifted in his seat.

The movement snapped Bonnie out of it. She looked down the left side of the street and closed her eyes to get her bearings.

She tried for nonchalant when she looked back at him."So, um. Are you going to the 80s dance next Friday?"

"Uh. Yeah. Are you?"

"I don't know. I should. I've been feeling gung-ho about being a senior since the night I killed….Dylan. Today kind of put a dent in it. But I will be setting up the decorations after school on Friday."

Tyler nodded. He was going to the dance for Caroline, but now he was going to stay after school and help decorate for Bonnie. And he'd only been into decorating that school once, at the very beginning of his relationship with Caroline.

They sat in silence for a long moment, each trying to wrestle their rowdy thoughts.

Later, Tyler cupped the back of her neck. "Come here," he coaxed.

Bonnie first thought that he was going to kiss her, but he didn't lean forward when she scooted closer. Instead, she found herself being guided to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, and she smiled. It didn't soothe her protesting vagina, but it was the hug she'd wanted earlier.

Tyler stroke her side slowly, up and down until she was lulled to sleep. Each slide of his palm on her body only bolstered his desire for her.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **** Nkhen, I looked over the paragraph from last chapter, and I see the confusion. Good looking out!**

**Y'all are wilin' out with these reviews! Blessing: "**They can both swan dive into an active volcano for that mess of nonsense.**" *DEAD***

**Happy Tonnie Friday!**

* * *

**Part 5: There's Something About Bonnie Now**

"Thirteen days," Bonnie murmured as she listened to the phone ring on the other side while she drove to school. "Well, twelve now."

"Hello?"

"Hey," she spoke louder. "Good morning."

"Morning. Why are you awake at this time?"

"Because I'm a high school student?"

"Oh right. Give me a second, my brain isn't working yet."

Bonnie shook her head. "Get Lucy."

"I hated mornings when I was human and as a vampire I hate them more."

Bonnie listened to Abby shuffle to wherever Lucy was. "Bonnie," she heard her mother say, and then she was put on speaker.

"Morning, sunshine," Lucy greeted.

"Good morning. Listen, I need you guys' opinion. What's the minimum number of days you need to create a prophecy or a curse?"

"Uh, at least seven," Abby answered.

"Good. I have 12 days."

"What are you trying to prophecy?" Abby asked.

"Things are getting crazy here. I can't really go into detail, but I have an Original vampire problem. Rebekah Mikaelson was daggered by me two days ago, but I had to give her to Klaus yesterday, or else the professor I told you about was going to die. But she's also under a _sleeping_ spell, and she's supposed to wake up in 12 days. She knows something that I don't want her telling Klaus, so if she happens to wake up before Klaus dies, I need some way to keep her quiet."

"Wait, since when was Klaus dying?" Lucy asked.

"Separate plan by a separate someone, but if Klaus finds out there'll be a blood bath."

"If you want to create a prophecy, a strong one, then you need time and things that you don't have. Some spells even require you to meditate for a certain number of days beforehand or cleanse yourself or the place where you're going to cast it," Abby said.

"Yeah, I get it. I just want it to be something like her memory of what she knows is erased, or every time she tries to tell him her throat burns. Something along those lines. There's werewolf poison in her system right now, so she's going through that hell, but I want it to continue when she wakes up."

"So you want a curse. My specialty," Lucy said. "Right away, you need to use the number 12. Would've been better if you did this yesterday and used 13, but 12 is good, too. Now there's a whole numerology component that you're gonna have to research, because as much as I love my curses, numerology is _way _too broad for me to have learned like the back of my hand. My favorite curse and prophecy numbers are 7 and 13 anyways, so I can talk to you about those all day."

"Yeah, I know," Bonnie said warmly. Lucy had happily taken up the task of thwarting, i.e. cursing, anyone who might cause them trouble after they got the cure. Bonnie had magically sent her personal belongings from Stefan and Damon, taken during the girls night at the Salvatore house, Elena and Caroline. She needed something from Klaus-

"Hey, if that woman is going to wake up, then you need to steal something from her for my curse, too," Lucy said.

And now, something from Rebekah.

She told the two women about Kol's involvement.

"Steal something from him, too," Lucy said. "Just in case."

"That's gonna be impossible," Bonnie said. "He doesn't live in town, and he's way more-I don't know how to say it-erratic? than his brother and sister."

"Then you'll have to incapacitate him," Lucy said.

"No, leave him be, and if he comes along for the cure we'll deal with him then as three. She needs to preserve her strength," Abby said.

"Yeah," Bonnie said. "About that. That separate plan by the separate person? I'm helping them with it."

"Bonnie, you can't stretch yourself thin," Abby warned.

"I know, but this is important."

"We have no idea what we're up against, what this cure is going to look like, or what it's going to take to get it. Not to mention that we're already at a disadvantage with just two witches," Abby fretted.

"Hey, it's not _that_ big of a disadvantage," Lucy took mild offense.

"_Still_," Abby said to her.

"She's kind of right, though, kiddo," Lucy said to Bonnie.

"Listen, guys, this is really important. It's personal for them, and I completely get their side of it. I'm not going to do any heavy lifting. I'm just gonna be the boost."

"Cursing this Original sounds like heavy lifting to me," Abby said.

Bonnie sighed quietly.

"Just be careful and conserve as much energy as you can," Abby relented.

"I will. Any more tips about the curse?"

"Reach for the stars," Lucy said. "Tonight's a full moon."

"Oh, crap," Bonnie responded.

"Mmm-hmm. Use the celestial bodies. Jupiter has 12 moons!" she exclaimed suddenly. "Sorry, psychic hit."

Bonnie smiled. It felt really good to hear someone else talk about their innate magical powers. Then she had a fleeting thought about the fact that she hasn't had a psychic hit in a while. "Okay, think big. Got it."

"Spirits, gods-"

"Gods? Like mythology?"

"Oh hun, there's a whole history. Remember that the theme is 12. And then make her act or react like you want."

"_Be careful_," Abby cut in. "That stuff can be dangerous, especially when you're not ready for it."

"I _will_," Bonnie repeated. "I'll talk to you guys later."

"Have a nice day," Abby said.

The first time Abby had said that, she'd clearly been trying to establish a connection. Bonnie had responded in-kind so as not to be rude. After all, she cared enough to try and make her human again. Over a month of phone calls later, and she liked to hear Abby wish her a nice day now. "Have a nice day," she responded. "You too, Lucy."

"Mmm-hmm."

Bonnie and Abby hung up.

_Especially when you're not ready for it._

_When._

Bonnie was mildly offended. Shane had called her a prodigy, and she was quite proud that he'd done so.

* * *

"In all the years I've known you, this has got to be the craziest, most dangerous thing you've ever done," Hayley fussed on the phone outside of the Lockwood mansion.

"It was necessary," Shane answered.

"_You could've been killed!_"

"Not killed. Fallen into a coma, maybe, but not killed. And if I _had_ fallen into a coma, I know you would've taken me to the appropriate company to wake me up. But this is what I needed. Bonnie wasn't so much the loss and wide-eyed orphan witch I was expecting. Getting her to spend time with me, to trust me and rely on me has been a no-go other than the incense I've given her and the time she called me to help Jeremy Gilbert. But since the attack yesterday she's contacted me twice. I've left the door open for her to come to me with any problems. What I need, and soon, is for her or the others to figure out where the cure is so you can tag along."

"What if they don't figure out where it is before time runs out?"

"That's why I need those Hybrids dead. Twelve sacrifices is nothing to sneeze at, but unless I link it with the Hybrid sacrifice, the Pastor and his flock will soon become just twelve deaths. A second sacrifice extends my window. How is it going with Tyler?"

"He texted the other Hybrids before he left for school this morning to meet him in his family's old cellar. I'm invited."

"Perfect," Shane said enthusiastically. "Sounds like the right time to alert Klaus to me, especially with the full moon tonight. Twelve deaths on the full moon would be of great help."

"Wait a second; it's not just a matter of outing them to Klaus. We need him to react badly enough that he kills them all. A little meeting might not get him to do that."

"Then tell him his sister was hurt because she knows Tyler is planning an insurrection."

Tyler's pack lived with Klaus. Hayley wondered how the hell she was going to speak with him without one of them seeing her.

* * *

At school, Tyler pounded the pavement as he rounded the track and crossed the starting line to begin his fourth lap. He was skipping lunch to run. After holding Bonnie last night, plus the day he's had so far, he needed to exhaust his body and clear his mind. He'd woken up with a mighty boner this morning. She has given him morning wood before, but this one had legitimately woken him from sleep, no alarm clock needed. It was as if he hadn't masturbated when he'd arrived home the previous night.

So he'd gotten out of bed, undressed, grabbed his towel, and walked to his bathroom. He'd started the shower and stepped in the bathtub. Then, one hand against the wall adjacent to the shower head, he'd rubbed his cock to the image of him thrusting into her on the swing bed while she bit the pillow that she'd been holding so that she didn't wake the neighbors or her father. By the time he'd spilled his semen against the wall, he'd been standing on his toes.

And he'd arrived to school twenty minutes late. It was worth it, as far as he was concerned.

He'd then preceded to spend the first couple of classes thinking about the last time he'd taken a good look at Bonnie Bennett. In detention a month ago, he had silently pretended that the last time he'd seriously thought about her was when she'd been chanting to put Klaus in his body. That wasn't true, because he'd been too busy preparing himself for Klaus to enter his body, as if preparing one's self to be hit by a car made the initial impact any less surprising.

No, the last time he'd seriously thought about Bonnie had taken place almost six months before the possession, back when she was still with Jeremy, back when he and Caroline had just gotten started. It had taken place on the last night that he'd lived as a full werewolf. And it had been one confusing experience.

Before school had opened for junior year, he had cooked up the idea of pulling a couple of stupid pranks on the school. The catch would be that the administrators would suspect that year's seniors. It was exactly the type of stuff he would come up with before he'd discovered that he was a werewolf, making sure he didn't get caught so that he wouldn't have to deal with his dad of course, and he'd had such an easy-ish summer, and he had a new girlfriend. It had been time to get back to his regular career as a high school student.

He'd shared the idea with Caroline in passing, and she had not only supported it but she'd thought it was the perfect opportunity to take Elena's mind off of Stefan and spend some time with Bonnie, who had not only been gone all summer but was going through some weird ghost thing with Jeremy.

The more participants the merrier, had been his opinion. At the beginning of the night, everything had been exciting and fun, and Caroline had been worrying about making sure the group had a great time. And then Bonnie and Elena had arrived together.

The closer they'd walked to Caroline, the stronger the odor had gotten. It was warm; excessive; metallic; _dead_ but not the kind of dead that Caroline was, it was a natural death. His first coherent thought came in the form of an image, and it was of him in his wolf form frolicking in some densely wooded place. It pulled at his basic instinct, the thing just smelled so _essential_. It felt powerful, strong, and it was enduring.

His eyes had shifted when the girls had stopped in front of Caroline, and Elena had asked him what was wrong. And because she had spoken, he had associated the smell with her and he'd been horrified. He'd ducked his head, mumbled nothing, and relocated to the other side of the room.

Caroline had come to ask him if he was okay, and he'd answered yes before asking her if she smelled something in the air. She'd answered no, and he'd specified that it was something that regular people wouldn't pick up. So she'd leveled up and sniffed. And answered, "_Ugh. Oh yeah. Bonnie's on her period. Thank God I'm not a new vamp anymore."_

His frozen look had made her wave her hand in front of his face and call out his name before she'd cracked up. "_You'll learn to ignore it. Lucky you that you guys don't hang out. You can leave the room, if you want_."

He had gladly left the room. But they'd ended up in Alaric's classroom together to set the mouse traps, and he'd thought the whole thing had passed because he didn't smell her anymore. But while Elena had been whisper-asking Caroline if the whole werewolf/vampire feud affected her relationship with Tyler, Bonnie had groaned in pain and squatted. The aroma had risen something fierce and trapped Tyler's attention.

He had closed his eyes to take his concentration away from it, but taking away his eyesight only heightened his sense of smell. It hadn't helped that he'd inhaled at that exact moment. It didn't smell good in the sense of something you'd bottle up and sell to people, but it smelled fucking amazing. _Fucking amazing_ had literally popped up in his head, and it had sent him bumping into two chairs in his hurry to get away.

"_Maybe you should just, like, stay away,"_ Caroline had counseled sympathetically when she'd come out to check on him in the hallway.

He'd nodded and then found the nearest bathroom so that he could Bing _werewolves and periods _in privacy.

He'd found links about how having a period is like being a werewolf and had sat on the toilet and avidly read the reasons why. Was he really being accosted by Bonnie's scent because she "transformed" once a month like he did, "went through pain" once a month like he did, and "had her emotions affected" like he did? And why her? He'd probably walked by a hundred girls who were on their periods over the summer, including his mom, but he had _never _smelled them. The only girl who gave off a scent was Caroline, and it was easy for him to overlook the decay of it, because he was in love with her.

Then he'd looked up what periods were made of, and he'd become downright mystified about why it….attracted him. That was exactly it. He was attracted to it, and it wouldn't be the worse thing if he got closer to it. But his lofty thought about getting closer to the scent was successfully dashed when he read the part about the uterus shedding. He was good on that.

And then luck had struck a third time, and he'd gone to the school's pool. Bonnie had been sitting with her feet on the first step of the pool, and she had turned around to look at him.

"_Uh. Sorry," _he'd stammered.

Instead of answering, she'd turned back to the pool.

"_Nice job," _he'd said as he looked over the teepeed room.

"_It was me and Matt," _she'd answered glumly.

He could have left. He could have. But he hadn't smelled anything, and she'd sounded sad, and Caroline had wanted her to sound anything but sad that night, so he'd gone in. And been greeted by her period as soon as he'd sat next to her.

So now he was running, because he'd spent the first half of his morning thinking about the boner that came closest to the one he'd woken up with this morning.

"Hey!"

He snapped out of his head and realized he'd sprinted past the starting line again.

"Tyler!"

He slowed down and looked back at the entrance-exit of the track. There stood his temptress, waving to him. He ran back to her.

"In the zone, huh?" Bonnie asked when he came close enough.

Tyler stopped across from her, the fence separating them. "Sorry," he heaved, having run fast enough to become mildly out of the little breath he possessed as a half vampire. "I was thinking about some things. Hi, beautiful."

Bonnie was pleasantly taken aback. "Beautiful, huh? Are you calling me that because I drooled on you last night?"

"You didn't drool," he reported and folded his arms on the fence.

"Snored?"

"Nope."

"How _did _I make it back to my room?"

"I carried you."

Bonnie had figured as much, but her stomach still shimmied at the confirmation.

"You managed to open the door while holding me," she said.

"Wasn't hard."

He'd carried her to her opened bedroom and placed her on the bed, at which point she'd immediately rolled to her left side. He'd gone back outside to retrieve her flats and placed them by the bed. He'd taken in her relaxed face and even breathing and grazed his knuckles over her soft cheek. He'd felt the urge to touch more of her, so he'd leaned down and rested his forehead against her right temple and closed his eyes and breathed in all of her.

"Thank you. I didn't mean to fall asleep. And my dad woke me up this morning to ask why I'd forgotten to lock the top part of the door."

Tyler smiled. She smelled great now, too, the same scent as last night.

"Thanks again for stopping by last night," Bonnie said softly.

"It was no problem at all."

"Um, you should know that lunch time is almost over."

"Right. Thanks. I totally lost track of time."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing really important."

Bonnie nodded slowly and understood that he didn't want to talk about it. She stepped closer to the fence and ended up having to squint up at him with the sun half in her face. "Well, I'm ditching."

"You're leaving?" he asked. She was standing so close.

"Yeah, I have a lot to do. I'm gonna put a curse on Rebekah, and I have to do it tonight during the full moon. I've been doing research on my phone all day, totally _not_ paying attention in my classes. So I might as well not be here. Plus I need to go to Rebekah's house to steal some of her hair. And her hairbrush."

"Do you think that's a good idea? You were just there to steal the dagger, and Klaus knows that."

"I don't have a choice. I could make a doll to represent her, but I still need a personal item from her for-for my cure mission," she said with her voice lowered.

Tyler looked down at her mouth, and his dick woke up like he hadn't so much as skipped along the track.

Bonnie saw what he was looking at and subconsciously twitched her lips. He parted his in response, which made her part hers. She felt herself becoming spellbound again, just like the night before. "Um. I should go."

"Yeah," Tyler responded. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her to his lips.

It definitely wasn't the type of goodbye Bonnie had expected, but she didn't slack for a minute. His hair was wet; he was shirtless; he was glistening with sweat, and she'd been walking around with a hard clit all day. He _took_ her mouth, and she pawed at his collarbones and his neck. Her hands slid against his skin, and it was a little gross, but it turned her all the way on. His body was fever-hot, and she would be alarmed if she could manifest any emotions that weren't carnal at the moment.

They moaned into each other, and Tyler grabbed the collar of her shirt and searched for entrance in her mouth. Bonnie quickly acquiesced and pressed herself into the fence and buried a hand in his wet hair. She wrapped her other arm around his shoulder and raised herself onto her toes.

Their lips smacked as they captured and released each other's mouths in quick succession, and then Bonnie caught his upper lip between hers and then caught it again when he started to slip it out, letting him know that she was done with the short kisses. The way her full lips slid on his, the feel of her flavorless lipgloss: Tyler's dick pressed against his briefs.

He was still pulling at the side of her collar, and he wasn't gentle about it anymore; he pulled at it as desperately as he felt, and it made Bonnie think about him tearing her clothes off. She tightened her arm around his neck and moaned in his mouth.

Tyler used his other hand to unlock her arm from around his neck. He let go of the collar as well as her lips, and he walked around the fence to join her.

Bonnie's hands hung in mid-air for a moment. She didn't understand what was happening. Then she saw him exit the track and stalk to her. She slipped her bag off her shoulder and walked into his arms right before he reached her. They resumed kissing, and she immediately reaped the benefit of them being closer when he laid a possessive hand on her butt and pushed her pelvis into his impressive erection.

He pressed her into the fence now, and he broke the kiss to speak on her lips, "This isn't supposed to happen. This wasn't supposed to happen, not until you said okay. But you can't look at me like that, and you can't do that with your mouth."

After he'd insulted her for a second time in her house and she'd waited to accept his apology and given no indication that she'd felt like kissing him back, he'd promised himself that nothing would happen between them unless she explicitly stated that she wanted it.

But he was failing to keep his promise, and it felt so good.

"Tyler?" Bonnie breathed up at him.

"Yeah?"

"Okay."

Like a stroke of lightning, his eyes had opened to her the night that they'd fought. He'd thought about and analyzed that night so often between the night itself and the end of winter break, that he had eventually realized that she was the first person he had seen after he'd become Alpha. His transition had literally happened as he'd been looking at and walking to her.

So he sometimes wondered if that was why he burned for her so damn much. Just thinking about her made his body react; the blink of her eyes made his body react; her spellcasting made his body react; her thoughtfulness, her willingness to help, the way she'd fought him that night, the way she dressed; her lipgloss, the way she carried herself; even the way she helped _too much_. The way that, at the beginning, especially in detention, she'd spoken to him like she actually couldn't have cared less if he'd fallen down a hole, because they'd disagreed. All of it was an opportunity for his body to go over the top.

He liked talking to her. He liked listening to her; he liked hugging her; he felt that their conversations were on another level, like there was a level of understanding between them that just fit with where he was in his life now. The way he felt when he _wasn't_ with her, however, was why he stopped himself short of thinking that someone else standing in her spot that night wouldn't have made a difference. It was what made him sure that it went beyond seeing her through the eyes of an Alpha.

Not anyone would do. It was Bonnie. There was something about Bonnie now.

And that something had him kissing her neck and ready to pull his dick out and bury himself to the hilt.

Bonnie felt so burdened by her clothes. She just wanted to be naked and air out her vagina in Tyler's face. She felt herself being lifted off the ground, which was a nice start. She wrapped her legs around his waist and continued to plow his mouth. She really liked how he responded to a green light.

She was running her hand down his muscular back when they were suddenly interrupted.

"Hey! _Excuse me_."

Bonnie jerked away from Tyler's mouth and tensed. One of the softball coaches was walking their way.

Tyler's reaction was a lot more calm than Bonnie's. She was wrapped around him, nothing could send him scrambling. So while she tried to put her legs down, he frowned from the absence of her mouth, looked back at the coach, and then faced forward. "Shit," he said, and he let her down.

He had half a mind to compel the man so that he and Bonnie could get back to what they wanted to be doing.

"Bell's about to ring," the coach said. "I think you two should get back inside, huh? The track's closed to students during school hours."

"Just getting in a good run," Tyler answered and licked his lips.

"Get back inside now, please. And don't come back out here."

Bag slung over her shoulder and still trying to catch her breath, Bonnie gave the man a tight smile and proceeded out of the field, wiping her hands wet with Tyler's sweat on her jeans along the way. She stopped when she realized that Tyler wasn't following her. She waited for him to grab his things and then they walked out.

Tyler had swung his duffel bag in front of his pelvis. He didn't need the coach to see his erection.

"I have to go to the locker room to drop this off and get dressed."

"Okay," Bonnie said. She smiled, "You're gonna smell."

"I have cologne," he smiled at her. "And I'm meeting the pack after school. I want to tell them that you're gonna be helping us."

"Okay."

He looked back toward the field and saw the man watching them. He looked at Bonnie and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Bonnie answered and looked back. "I'm fine. I need to split off, though."

They got to a corner where Bonnie could head straight to the back parking lot. "This is me," she announced.

Tyler nodded. The bell rang, and Bonnie smiled. He cupped her face and kissed her. This kiss was devoid of the hunger from earlier, though hunger still baked in their bellies. A thin line of saliva connected them for a brief moment when they ended the kiss. Bonnie sighed and licked her lips and broke it without noticing.

Tyler opened his eyes and wiped his thumb across her bottom lip, and Bonnie turned her head to follow his thumb, delaying the moment when it would stop touching her skin.

"Be careful," he said.

She nodded, her mouth open and pressed against his thumb. It wouldn't take much for her to start sucking it, as far as she could tell. It wouldn't take much at all for her to reach into his shorts and grab hold of his dick with one hand and use the other to rid them both of their bottoms and guide his dick to her entrance. It wouldn't take much at all.

She lowered her head when he dropped his thumb, following it, and it made Tyler smile and shake his head in amazement. She unbelievably hot.

Bonnie touched his chest and said, "Gotta go." She pushed away from her hand and left.

Her reaction to his thumb held Tyler's mind prisoner for the rest of the school day. All he thought about was fingering her.

* * *

April had broken into Rebekah's house after school to search for anything that could give her an upper hand. The front door's lock had already been broken when she'd arrived, which had made her pause. The alarm had been chirping, but, heart in her throat, she'd forged ahead. She'd found nothing that could help her uphold the bluff that she had given Caroline the day before.

Now she was walking to Klaus' house, and a hand stopped her. She grabbed the wrist and whirled around.

"Woah there," Hayley said. "Jumpy?"

April none too gently dropped her hand.

"How rude."

"Sorry. I'm sorry." She's been so stuck on Elena and her group that she was forgetting how to treat normal people.

"Are you heading to that house over there?"

"Um, yeah. Why?"

"I need you to get me the owner. I need to talk to him."

"And you can't go up there yourself?"

"No. Long story. Restraining order from his hot brother. But ask for the _owner_, and when you see him tell him it's a matter of life or death. Tell him to meet me across from Founders Hall."

"Okay."

"I'll be watching to make sure you do it."

April nodded and continued toward the house. Change of plans. And a new player. This girl didn't compel her, so was she not a vampire? Maybe it was just that not all vampires were like Elena and Caroline.

She rang the bell and waited.

A tall, dark-haired and clean-shaven man answered. She was positive he was the hot brother. "Hi," she greeted.

Kol frowned.

"Um. I was wondering if you'd like to donate to….the food bank? To help the poor? I'm Miss Mystic Falls." She did _not_ know how to improvise.

"We write checks," Kol answered. "For tax purposes," he smiled.

"Right. Um. Is the owner home? I mean, are you the owner?"

"Yes and no."

It took her a moment to remember that she'd asked two questions. She swallowed when he just stood there. Anyone else would've _gone to get the owner_. It was only natural! She hated awkward situations.

"Would you like to come in?" Kol asked and cocked his head to the right.

For some reason, that move made him look more creepy than Rebekah with a dagger in her chest.

"No," she answered quickly. "I just have a message for him. There's a girl down the street," she pointed, "Who wants him to meet her across from Founders Hall. She said it's a matter of life and death."

Kol craned his neck out the door to look, forcing April to back up. He indeed saw a girl waiting, though, looking at her back, it wasn't any of the Mystic girls he knew. "Is that all?" he asked.

"Yeah. Just make sure he gets the message. She seemed intense about it." She wondered then if Rebekah's body was inside the house.

"Thank you for stopping by," Kol said. "Have a nice day."

When April stepped onto the sidewalk, she shrugged at Hayley.

* * *

Hayley could admit that she was a lot nervous. This was it: sink or swim. When Tyler had told her about a whole group of other people who shared his predicament, she'd asked him for a number. And then she'd conceived an idea and shared it with Shane. He'd encouraged her and trusted her judgment, and now she had to deliver. Klaus was either going to be so angry that he showed up at that meeting and killed them all, or he was going to choose to investigate first. She hoped he reacted like the hot head that Tyler had told her he was.

She wasn't scared of Klaus, per say. She served someone much more powerful. But Klaus was nothing to laugh at. Which was why as soon as he started the massacre, she was going to get the hell out of the cellar.

"Hayley?"

She whipped around to the voice coming from behind her. "Adrian."

"Hey."

Shit. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, I'm here on behalf of Klaus."

"Klaus? Klaus sent you?"

"Yeah. Something about life and death?"

"Yeah. It was Tyler's idea. A way to misdirect him."

"Really? He hasn't said anything to us."

She shook her head at him like he was a child, "We don't tell you guys everything. And look at why: he told his girlfriend about killing Klaus the day of the Festival, and she spilled to somebody else. But he wanted me to do this before the meeting later. This is what he's going to announce to you guys."

And she just oversold it. Now she _really _needed to tell Klaus. She didn't have a weapon to use against Adrian, and even if she did she couldn't kill him because he needs to be sacrificed, which would leave him able to wake up and tell Tyler about the attack. And even if she were a vampire old enough to compel him, it wouldn't work. She had learned from Tyler and Kim that Tyler's status as an Alpha protected every half vampire in his pack from being compelled.

"So what do you want me to tell Klaus?" Adrian asked.

She shrugged one shoulder. "That someone's trying to kill him."

"Who, Hayley?"

She paled when she heard the new voice. Behind Adrian and to his right: Tyler.

"Oh, you made it," Adrian greeted him without taking his eyes off Hayley.

"Who's trying to kill Klaus?" Tyler asked as he walked closer. "What are you _doing_?"

"Going with my plan. Look, the others are right: you are wasting too much time with this. I'm not comfortable spending months in the same town as a psycho, just waiting to kill him. You said this guy was the worst news ever. I don't do worst news; I don't do people like him. I'm supposed to be helping you, but I'm not as comfortable with this as you are. This is taking too long, and I'm starting to get nervous. Now, I have my witch on standby."

"How does telling Klaus someone's trying to kill him work in getting him killed?" Tyler asked.

"It distracts him."

"Hey, is this a stall tactic so that Klaus can discover us?" Adrian asked. "'Cause he's supposed to be here in, mmm, seventeen minutes."

"The plan sounds like it makes things harder for your witch," Tyler continued. "What's her name, by the way? Your _witch_," he clarified when Hayley failed to answer. "What is her name?"

"It's a _he_," Hayley answered, barely opening her mouth.

Tyler smirked. "Adrian. I know you've been impatient to rip out Klaus' throat-"

Adrian lacerated a gash into Hayley's throat. She gasped and started to choke. She was still able to squeak, so he tore deeper into her larynx.

Tyler gathered his mettle, bared his claws, and grabbed Hayley by her collar. Her blood flowed onto his hand. Adrian moved out of the way, and he slashed her face. His irises transformed from dark brown to gold-red and black as instinct took over. He felt the veins crawl around his eyes.

More blood flowed out of Hayley's throat as she tried to speak her pain. Her stomach constricted with the need to cough. Instinct told Tyler to go for the inside of her elbow. It was easy to drop her to the ground. He roughly removed her right arm from her jacket, and he clawed his way into her brachial artery.

As Hayley quickly bled to death, she thought of Silas. She'd known this was too rash, but they were running out of time. She only hoped he could make up for this flaw. She hoped they hadn't lost everything.

"But this'll do in the meantime," Adrian finally answered Tyler.

Tyler stared at the gash he'd sliced into Hayley's face. "Klaus is gonna know it was a werewolf." He looked at her arm. "Hopefully he'll think it's too precise for it to be one of us. I knew I couldn't trust her."

"Were you gonna share that with us?" Adrian asked.

"Yes," Tyler answered. He changed his eyes back.

They left Hayley in the shade by the bushes where she'd been planning to meet Klaus. Hopefully he would find her.

"Meeting's off," Tyler said. "I have something for us to do while Klaus is out of the house."

* * *

"You won't believe this," Kim said to Tyler on the phone. "Kol left the house with Lily and Dai. Klaus called him."

"Probably to retrieve Hayley," Tyler said.

"It's exactly that," Kim said, a big grin on her face.

"Get the others to help you look for the sword. If you find it, leave it."

"And if _we_ find it?" Adrian asked as Tyler drove them to Klaus' storage unit.

"We take it."

"Why do we need it?"

"We don't. The witch who's helping us does."

* * *

Tyler and Adrian drove to the outskirts of town, passed the storage unit, parked in a McDonald's, and walked back.

"When Klaus first turned me, he showed me all of his artifacts. I was his first successful Hybrid. I was flattered by the attention at the time. I'm pretty sure that was when my sire bond to him strengthened. It cracked when I almost helped him kill one of my friends, this guy Jeremy. But I've since realized that his excitement was just him being fucking desperate for that family he could control. He keeps all his artifacts and expensive paintings here. If the sword is here, I'm thinking he's compelled everyone who works the front desk not to give the key to anyone except him. And if the sword _is_ here, I'm also thinking he's got vampires guarding the unit. Old vampires. He wouldn't trust this to young, inexperienced Hybrids."

Bonnie had reminded him that he knows how Klaus operates; she'd made him see the value in that. Trusting his gut had just saved his pack from Hayley, and now it was going to help him steal the sword. If it was here.

"So we need to stake out the place," Adrian concluded.

"We stake out the place," Tyler confirmed. "Or not," he changed his mind. He stopped walking.

"The thing about old vampires is that they missed out on the free daylight jewelry. It's evening. Still a little too early for them to be out."

"_Maybe_," Adrian doubted.

So Tyler had him use his speed to creep through the lot first. It wouldn't be any use if the vampires were already there, but it was worth a try.

Tyler wished he'd told him to check the rooftops, too.

Adrian came back and said, "No one's guarding anything."

"Okay. Let's go."

"What number is it?"

"I forgot."

Adrian stared at him, but Tyler walked right to the tiny office. He was about to ask the two brown-haired, bearded, middle-aged men for the number of Klaus Mikaelson's unit when a stale smell disturbed his nostrils. Undead flesh.

"Vampires," he said for Adrian's sake.

The two men adopted a defensive stance, but Tyler attacked the one standing behind the desk and in front of the filing cabinets.

Adrian dragged the other one from his seat and over the desk.

The fight taught Adrian that Hybrid strength over vampires had a limit. He didn't know how the fuck old this man was, but he got too many hits in. Adrian couldn't even subdue him long enough to poison him.

Tyler wanted to throw his vampire out of the office and let the sun take care of him, but the star was too low in the sky, and there were too many people driving by. People who could just pull over and stare. Although that _would_ provide a nice distraction while he and Adrian retrieved the sword.

There was nothing sharp or long enough in the office to use as a stake, so he and Adrian relied on their violent first nature. They transformed into rabid animals, almost literally, and Tyler's strength powered Adrian. They both connected to a full moon's reach for the first time in a year.

Tyler finished his vampire first, tearing into the man's throat and spitting out the chunks.

Adrian's vampire lay dead, but he wasn't satisfied. He reared back and roared. He bit off the vampire's cheek and spit the foul flesh out. He grabbed the vampire's right arm and started to gnaw at his elbow joint.

"Adrian. Adrian!"

Tyler rushed to him when he abandoned the elbow to claw his way through the stomach. Tyler got him off of the man and held him against the wall by the door, and Adrian struggled and growled ferociously at him.

"Stop it! _Stop it!_ Calm down! Calm! _Calm_." He felt his power reach Adrian in a different capacity. "Calm down. That's it. Just calm down. You're okay."

They were both out of breath when Adrian sunk to the floor. Tyler held onto him until he sat, and then he dropped on his butt adjacent to him and next to the mangled vampire.

"What the fuck was that?" Adrian asked.

"I don't know. But there's a full moon tonight. I think you went crazy for not submitting to it in a while."

Adrian closed his eyes and licked the blood on his lips.

Tyler was sure his own face looked just as bad. He felt the stickiness. They couldn't walk to the car looking like that. "Use his clothes to wipe your face," he said. "Unless doing so will set you off again?"

"No, I'll be fine." Adrian moved to make himself presentable.

Tyler stood and went to his man behind the desk and did the same.

They were cleaner, though their shirts and jackets were bloody.

"Let's get them out to the sun," Tyler said. "They can't scream now."

"This was tough as shit," Adrian commented. "I thought you said they wouldn't have rings."

"They don't. Check his finger. It's the glass, keeps the sun out. I've heard Klaus talk about a vampire who invented it."

They carried the men around the building. They started to smoke as soon as they were brought outside, but the boys found a large rectangle of bright, shiny evening sun. They dropped the vampires on the ground. They watched them roast and disintegrate to ash.

"I've never actually seen a vampire turn to ash before," Tyler said.

"I have. Klaus' daddy."

They went back to the office and searched through the paper files. M for Mikaelson. "L-72," Tyler read from the file.

They ran around the back, past the ashes, and rounded two more corners before they found the unit. Tyler grabbed the lock and pulled it until it broke off. He bent down and lifted the door. He heard a sharp click, then a shot, and he flew back into the opposite unit.

"Ty!" Adrian yelled.

"_Shit,_" Tyler said between clenched teeth as he looked down at the long, thick stake protruding right below his chest. He knew it well. It was the same one the Hunter Connor had shot him with in the church.

Adrian tried to pull it out, but it burned his hand. He tried a second time and resisted the pain.

Tyler screamed as the wood's path was reversed. He rolled onto his stomach and tried to catch his breath when it was out. "_Shit_."

"Are you healing?" Adrian asked worriedly after he dropped the stake. His palm burned.

"Not fast enough," Tyler wheezed. He was going to feel this for the rest of the day, just like last time.

Eventually, Adrian helped him stand. They examined the unit from outside, looking for any more booby traps, and they spotted the bow that had been set to release the arrow. They risked walking inside.

"How does Klaus manage to open the door?" Adrian wondered.

"I don't think it was there before he put the sword here."

"That sword better be here. Imagine if it isn't."

"Let's not," Tyler deadpanned.

They didn't disturb anything. They looked for obvious signs of the sword first. Adrian found it wrapped in a heavy brown cloth. He was reaching to touch it when Tyler stopped him.

Remembering what Bonnie had said about magical objects, he said, "You don't know what kind of reaction it'll have. It might incinerate you."

Adrian wrapped it back up.

"Unless he's been checking on this place daily since he put this in here, we should be good for a while," Tyler said. He untied the rope that was rigged to the bow, and then he unwrapped one of the smaller paintings and took the cloth.

"Good," Adrian said.

Tyler grabbed the bow. He put the door down when they stepped out of the unit, and then he used the cloth to grab the bloody stake. "I hope this thing can be used more than once."

* * *

Tyler cinched the towel around his hips and stepped out of the shower. He'd sent his mom to buy a change of clothes for Adrian after being very very vague about why they had blood on their clothes and why he was holding a crossbow and what those things were inside the cloths. Adrian had showered before heading out. He was going to wait a couple of hours before he went to Klaus', because that was his norm. He always came home last.

Tyler dropped the towel on his bed and opened the fourth drawer of his dresser to select underwear. He chose boxer-briefs and stepped into them while looking at his bed. The sword was hidden underneath. He'd gone to the cave to hide the crossbow and stake while Adrian had been in the shower.

The doorbell rang, and he finished dressing. His mother knocked on his door, and when he opened it she pointed toward the stairs with her thumb. Tyler nodded and held his index finger to his lips. He'd told her not to answer the door for the rest of the day.

As expected, Klaus was on his doorstep. Time to perform.

"Good evening, Tyler," Klaus greeted somberly.

"Hey."

"I'm afraid I come bearing gruesome news."

He frowned. And was curious about the fact that Klaus really seemed to be trying to deliver the news gently.

"It's about your friend Hayley."

"What about her?"

"I'm afraid she's dead."

Don't react too quickly. "What?"

"She's dead, Tyler. She's been killed."

Insert confusion. "I don't…." He laughed and crossed his arms. "I don't even know why you would know that. You don't know Hayley. You guys…."

"This afternoon she came to my home and asked to speak to me. She wanted to meet with me. She wanted to warn me. But by the time I got there….There was only her dead body."

"_There was only her dead body_? That sounds ridiculous. Why would Hayley-she hasn't said a word about you since she met you. I just….this doesn't make any sense."

"I'm sorry. I know you were fond of her. I promise you I will find out who did this."

He softened his voice. "Where is she?"

"In my home. I needed to examine the body."

He closed his eyes like he couldn't stand the thought.

"I will give her a proper burial after."

"I wanna see it. I wanna see her." That was impromptu, but he realized that it would only appear natural to Klaus.

Klaus nodded and indicated that he follow him.

He began to step outside and then stopped himself. "Wait, I have to tell my mom I'm going out."

Once he was upstairs, he remembered that his phone was in his bedroom. But he should be too shell-shocked to remember to grab it, so he left it.

He and Klaus drove in silence, and it was the first time he'd ever seen Klaus be sincere about someone's misfortune. Usually he was busy causing it. But he knew there was a selfish bent to this: Klaus had missed out on critical information about his safety.

When they arrived, Klaus took him to one of the empty rooms. It was the same one in which he'd drained Elena's blood at the end of last spring.

Hayley lay atop a glass table covered in a tan cloth. Kol stood at her feet.

Tyler stopped in the middle of the room and then slowly walked to the body. He held the back of his wrist to his nose and shook his head. "I don't understand."

"We think there was more than one attacker. She was a werewolf; the full moon is tonight; she should have been primed to defend herself," Klaus said.

"Unless she felt bound by being in a public place," Kol pointed out.

"Obviously not that public," Klaus countered. To Tyler, he said, "Her wounds were fresh when I arrived. Probably not more than thirty minutes since she was killed."

"Her face is slashed," Tyler said.

"Yes," Klaus answered. "Werewolves. The coup de grace was the wound on the inside of her elbow."

"Why was that the coup de grace?"

"Because that's where the brachial artery is. Major artery. It means she bled to death," Kol answered.

"Whoever did this knew what they were doing," Klaus said.

"So….there are werewolves in Mystic Falls?" Tyler asked.

"It appears so," he confirmed.

"Why?"

"My brother and I are talking it over," Klaus said.

In other words, it was none of his business.

"Did she have any enemies?" Kol asked Tyler.

Tyler shook his head like he was trying to remember. "She used to be part of a pack, but they disbanded. She's never talked about any personal enemies."

"It's curious that she'd try to save my life after what befell her friend Chris," Klaus realized for the first time.

"Yeah," Tyler answered softly. "I don't get any of this. It doesn't make any sense."

"Where are her parents?" Kol asked.

"She was an orphan; she told me at the pageant. She was adopted, but….she left home when she started to realize what she was." That was partly a lie, but there was no reason for Hayley's adoptive family to get two unhinged vampires at their door. If she even really had an adoptive family.

"I need to bury her," he continued. "She deserves that."

"Of course," Klaus said. "You are free to take her."

"I need you to tell me when you figure out who did this," he said.

"I promise you will share in the spoils."

He carried Hayley's body to Klaus' car and then asked for a shovel. Klaus grabbed two and drove him to the outskirts of the Mystic Falls cemetery where they dug a deep grave.

Tyler kneeled in front of Hayley's grave and felt a genuine string of emotions. He was confused. He didn't understand what happened. He didn't know when things had changed for her. He didn't understand why.

* * *

When he arrived home, he checked his phone for any messages from the others. He had two from Bonnie instead. The first had arrived forty-nine minutes ago: _Wanna watch me do the curse?_

The second had arrived forty-four minutes ago: _Starts at 10:19 :)._

She'd included the address plus extra directions and: _Call me if you get lost. As long as it's before 10:19!_

He looked at the time on his phone: 9:40. He'll have to drive above the speed limit the whole way. He texted her back: _I'm coming :). _And he was bringing her a gift.

He arrived at the woods at 10:05, and then he sped to the house, having to stop and check his phone a couple of times to make sure he was hitting all the marks that she had said. He finally saw a clearing. A stocky structure stood tall within. He checked his phone: 10:12.

He started toward the house, and his confidence grew with every step. He was proud to have retrieved what she wanted, and he was proud to present it to her. He felt like he was coming with triumphant news after a conquest.

On the first floor of the house, Bonnie was purifying while at the same time filling the room with Rebekah's essence. To begin, she had gone home and showered. Once she was clean, she had come to the house. She had three candles working in a circle. She had lit three sticks of white sage from each candle and set them to burn in the middle of the circle. Tangible plumes of smoke had been wafting through the house for an hour and thirty minutes now. Also inside the circle was the clump of hair from Rebekah's hairbrush. She sat on three blankets in a corner of the room.

She felt Tyler as soon as he stepped on the porch. She had no idea how, but her heart jumped, and then she heard the front door slowly open. Footsteps sounded closer and closer, and that feeling in her heart increased. It wasn't nervousness or excitement. It was just….a feeling. It was something that he was giving off, something that she was picking up. He walked into the room, and she was speechless.

"This is, like, a lot of smoke," he said when he walked in. "Hey. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered a little breathlessly. She touched her heart and stood up. "Hey. What's that behind your back?"

"A present," he answered with a smile.

She inhaled deeply. "Tyler…where-is something wrong? Did something happen?"

"What do you mean?"

He stepped further into the room and her breath caught in her throat. She touched her chest again.

"Bonnie," he said with a frown.

"I'm just….feeling weird. And it's coming from you."

He turned his head to indicate that he had no idea what she was talking about.

"What's behind your back?"

He smiled, and her feeling swelled. She rubbed the valley between her breasts with her knuckles. He removed his hands from behind his back and held the shielded object horizontally.

They met a little past the middle of the room, on his side, and he said, "Unwrap it."

She followed his direction. Her movements slowed when she saw what it was. "Is that….?"

He smiled wider, and she grinned big. "You took it?"

"Stole it. Had to kill two old vampires for it, and took a gnarly stake in the chest, but…."

"_Tyler_," she said gratefully.

Something in him took off flying at the look on her face. His pride knew no bounds.

"Thank you so much!" she threw her arms around him. "I didn't think you'd get it this soon; I thought we'd talk about it first, come up with a plan or something. But wait, you got hurt?"

"I'm fine. My chest is a little sore, but I'm fine. Klaus rigged a bow in his storage unit, and it went off when I lifted the door."

She delicately placed a hand on his chest.

"I'm really fine, Bonnie," he said as he searched her eyes. Though she could keep her hand on his chest.

She smiled. "I can't believe this. Thank you."

"I didn't do it alone. Adrian needs your thanks, too. He's, uh, one of the people who crashed the sleepover."

"Huh. Did he know he was helping me?"

"No," he shook his head.

She smiled. "Well, give him my thanks. If you think he'll accept it."

He wanted to tell her about Hayley, but he would wait until after her ritual. "What time is it?"

"Oh crap." She ran to her phone and checked the time: 10:17. "Two minutes," she announced. She grabbed the white chalk. She was 48 dollars and some change poorer just from the sage sticks and chalk. She'd brought the candles from her house. She needed to take a page from her mother's book and grow her own herbs.

"You can have a seat-" She cut herself off when all of the smoke disappeared and the candles flickered off. "Anywhere," she finished as she looked at the ceiling. "The house is clean."

Tyler set the sword next to her things, and then he took a seat just after the entrance of the room. He wanted to see everything she did.

Bonnie moved the candles to her little depot, and then she pulled three sheets of paper from her right pants pocket. She kneeled and placed them in front of her, and then she copied the vévé that she'd printed at her house after school onto the floorboard. "This will connect me to Him, help Him hear me," she told Tyler while she drew carefully. "I called my cousin after I got Rebekah's brush, and she said that some Spirits demand extra effort. Some of them have their own logos, kind of like a channel."

She finished the drawing. It wasn't perfect, but it was sincere. She returned the chalk to her belongings and grabbed the bottled water she'd bought. She trickled it inside the symbol until the bottle was empty. She was encouraged when the water stayed perfectly inside the vévé. She put the cap back on the bottle, grabbed the paper with the symbol, and returned both to her blankets.

Tyler registered how deliberate her movements were, as if placing the objects back constituted part of the ritual. "You came up with this?" he asked.

"The ritual? Yeah. The cleansing idea is mine; the cleansing ritual is from my Grams' Grimoire. The pouring water part is mine," she explained as she picked up the second sheet of paper and kneeled. "And the spells are mine."

She closed her eyes for a while and kept herself alert to the vévé beside her. "Clermeil. Clermeil. Clermeil." She opened her eyes and began reading from the paper. Spirits didn't care about language, so it didn't matter where one was from. They understand intention, devotion, and desire. Those things were universal.

"_Clermeil, venio tibi verecunde genibus flexis supplex ac. Gloria tua. Gloria positum. Tibi sunt ante. Ego verebitur magnitudinem tuam narrabunt. Exaudi orationem meam, ad te oro. Exaudi orationem meam, ad te oro. Quoniam tu es patientia mea. Peto ut meas alvei._"

She lowered the paper and closed her eyes. She waited.

She opened her eyes and looked at the vévé. The water was gone, though the floor inside the symbol was wet. Something suddenly entered her body, and she gasped long and hard. She leaned forward and then was slowly pushed back on her thighs, her arms hanging at her side. Her head was gently dipped back, and her mouth dropped open. She felt very light, very airy.

Tyler started to get nervous when she didn't move from the position. And then the invisible force straightened her, and Tyler's eyes widened when he saw that hers were a bold blue, from the irises, to her eyeballs, to her lashes, to the skin around her eyes. The blue stretched from below her eyebrows to the top of her cheeks.

Bonnie suddenly felt heavier when the force burrowed deeper inside her, became one with her. She slowly turned her head to the right, to the left, to the right. She couldn't see Tyler anymore. She couldn't see the room anymore, though she knew that that was where she dwelled. She saw energy. Power, which included Tyler's. She saw her desire and her spell. They all flowed before her eyes in dynamic waves. Her sight was her overruling sense. In front of her, the vévé glowed.

She dropped to her hands and drawled, "Full moon," as she looked through her borrowed sight. "_Luna plena. Luna sancti. Luna plena. Luna sancti._"

She reared back as she connected with more supernatural energy, and then she was thrown forward, guttural sounds escaping her mouth. She stretched her hands before her and splayed her fingers. She wailed, "_Luna sancti! Luna sancti! Luna sancti!_" Her voice grated on the air and made the energies in her sight vibrate.

With her objective for doing the ritual floating in front of her, she didn't need to look at the last paper to recite the curse. "_Rebekah_," she seethed, "_A die duodecimo post orationem dicere veto quod scitis. Quae ad me de te, nego. Et incarnatus est de duodecimo, Iuppiter et Luna dea regulante Lysithea, Oceanus filia, et MALEDICAM maledicentibus tibi, et flumina Clermeil! Clermeil scis quid flumina, quae et res Clermeil clausas. OPUS MEA ET FLUMINA INTRANT PER TE!"_

She dipped her back and gasped to the ceiling as the lights in front of her shined to blinding. She finally felt her own power as the spell locked into place, and Rebekah's hair burned. The lights dimmed, and she moved her gaze from the ceiling to the ones floating in front of her and marveled at their exuberant beauty. She was being lulled when a premonition bathed in blue light suddenly pierced her mind, and she cried out.

_A large field, a house, the flame from a lighter, an explosion. _

She gasped out of the vision when the fire raced to incinerate her, and right before her vision cleared of lights, energies, and powers, she connected with a thought: _duodecad._

She gently laid on her side and craned her head up to look at the glowing symbol. She blinked slowly, and the dull mortal world came in stark focus. The symbol didn't disappear so much as it sunk into the house. A rumble sounded from underground. In a less lucid part of her mind, she thought the occurrence odd. The curse was in place, and she was out of the trance, but some other magical working seemed to have taken place.

She took a moment for herself, and then she turned on her stomach and found Tyler. She felt like she'd been interrupted from a nap, like she'd slept but not really. She felt no remnants from the spell, though her eyes burned just a little, enhancing her _just woke up_ feeling.

"I'm back," she said.

Tyler swallowed. "Where did you go?"

"Nowhere. I was here. I couldn't control what I was seeing, but I was aware. I had control. A little bit. It was like an active trance."

"As opposed to….?"

"One where I don't know what I'm doing until I've snapped out of it. I've had those more than once." She sat up and looked at where the vévé used to be.

* * *

She and Tyler sat on the large porch in front of the house. She needed the cool night air. He needed to sit close to her, so his left side was flush against her right side.

"How did I look?" Bonnie asked.

Tyler scoffed and shook his head, a smile trifling on his lips as he gathered his thoughts. "Incredible. Scary. _Weird_. You looked wild. Powerful and sexy."

"Sexy?"

"In the middle and the end, though, right before you lied down. Most of the time, I was dealing with incredible, powerful, and scary."

She chuckled.

"What did it feel like?"

"Good. Strange. Foreign. It was very pretty."

"Pretty?"

"Yeah. I was seeing all these colors and waves. It was like…. magic in colors."

"Your eyes looked nice."

"My eyes?"

"They were blue. And I'm talking all around your eyes." He gestured at his own eyes to show her.

"The curse worked, though."

"Yeah, I felt it."

Bonnie looked at him and frowned.

"What?"

"You felt it?"

"Yeah, the ground shook, and there was a noise. What is it?" he asked when Bonnie looked pensive.

"Nothing. I'm not sure. I just don't….I feel like that wasn't part of the spell. It didn't come from me," she shrugged. "I had already disconnected."

"Then...what was it?"

"I have no idea," she answered. She thought of the symbol seeming to sink into the house.

Tyler watched her let it go, so he asked, "Is it easy for you to do that? Come up with the spells? Like, how do you know what to say?"

She chuckled. "A whole lot of studying. And the studying forms an instinct, I think. It's the only reason I can think of for me surviving this long. Because there must be a magical effect to staring at magical words all the time, right?"

That made sense to him.

"My Grams showed me her Grimoire just in time for me to learn my first spell, a little practice before we did this tomb spell, and I just understood the words. I knew exactly what each word meant. She said it came with the territory. The language itself is magic. Not all of them are. Some spells are in English; any spoken language can be used for spells. But there are a few languages that came about through magic and exist _solely_ for magic. And my family uses one of them."

Tyler nodded.

"As for knowing how to arrange the words, that's studying and practice. I literally studied the composition of the spells after I memorized all the defensive ones in Emily's Grimoire. The order of the words, why they're sometimes ordered this way and sometimes that way; why some are short and some long; when do I command and when do I ask? I praised that Spirit in there like three times. I realized that I had to learn how to write my own spells after this warlock stole my powers."

"That's amazing," Tyler said.

"It's not perfect. Sometimes I don't realize the double meanings of my words or the literal meaning of the word. Like with the Blackout spell. Not all of spellcasting is about intention."

"You taught yourself all of this; that's a huge deal. I think Shane was right when he called you a prodigy."

Bonnie chuckled, and the sound tickled the air.

"Come on," he said and bumped her with his shoulder. "Aren't prodigies people who teach themselves?"

"And are talented," she pointed out.

"_You're talented_."

She laughed. "Oh, I'm not saying I'm a slacker, trust me. I love casting spells. I _love_ magic; the way the words feel in my mouth," she said and swayed to the left.

"It looks good on you," Tyler said.

Bonnie looked at him, and her smile wobbled. "Thank you."

"So, what did you curse her with?"

"Every time she tries to speak what she knows, the rivers of Clermeil will flow from her mouth. Clermeil is a Haitian water Spirit. And I invoked the Goddess Lisythia, her father Oceanus…."

"Damn. So the theme was water."

"And 12." She thought of her vision and that word.

"So Gods and Goddesses are real."

"Most of them. I just learned this today, and it was a quick lesson through text after I left school, but: Goddesses and Gods are usually witches who gained a following. More so the Goddesses. You know how there's a female version for each God?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Well truthfully, it's the other way around since women, by design and also doing more with the earth and nature, are more open to magic; they have more opportunities to access it. And of course a lot of them did. Now _Spirits_, capital S, and I mean the kind like Clermeil, not the ghost kind, were never human. They _can _take on a human form and literally walk the earth, but they weren't born. Made, thought into existence, formed with floating magical energy, but not born. And some of them who came to earth, they, uh….they procreated."

Tyler widened his eyes. "Wait, hold up. Are you….?"

Bonnie smiled, excited to share what she'd learned.

"You're kidding."

"I don't know who; my cousin didn't get into that, but yeah. Our magical line started with literal magic: a Spirit."

Tyler took a moment to absorb the information. "So, some dude came down-"

"Dudette. Excuse you. It was a woman, and there's a difference between a line starting from a Spirit's seed and a line being cultivated in a Spirit's stomach and everything that means in a pregnancy. I don't need to tell you which one's more advantageous."

Tyler smiled.

"But yeah: my magical line….is magical. Most lines just come from people worshiping Nature and the earth and eventually developing literal powers. I thought that was how we started until Lucy set me straight."

"So you're like a Goddess," Tyler marveled. "Or some kind of Spirit-priestess big deal royalty."

"Shut up," Bonnie chided and nudged him.

"I'm serious. Royal blood makes you royal, so Spirit blood makes you….a Spirit-witch-Goddess."

"You have to stop calling me a Goddess. It's not the same thing."

"I won't," he assured, shaking his head.

Bonnie laughed. She was loving the attention.

"Spirit-witch," Tyler named her. It was hot as hell.

Bonnie pursed her lips and rolled her eyes, though her smile burst through.

"So was Jesus a witch?"

"Uh, not all of that information is clear," she laughed. "Not for Jesus or any of the other religious Gods. _But_ I do know that Spirits are stronger than witch Gods and Goddesses, for obvious reasons, _and _none of the witches who gained a following or forced people to follow them got to continue their genes."

"Woah, why?"

"Can you imagine being able to tell people you're Zeus' direct descendant or Isis'? I mean it's heresay that most of the Gods and Goddesses even had kids, but it's like why humans procreate, you know? It's natural to want to continue your line. But a lot of the drama about the Egyptian and Greek deities, and many others, came from witches being able to say, well my father, mother, great-great grandmother, whatever, are Gods, worship me, too. It was chaos. So the Spirits ended the lines."

"Like killed?"

"I don't know. Probably. My cousin doesn't think they could just take away something that's biological, especially if it didn't come from them, but that's just her opinion."

"Damn."

"My Grams once told me that our family history is longer than our family line. I didn't understand what she meant until today."

They sat in silence a moment, at this point physically leaning into each other.

"Listen," Tyler began, "There's something I need to tell you. Something bad. Good. But also bad." He waited for her to ready herself, and when he saw that she was about to ask him what, he said, "Hayley's dead."

"What?"

"I killed her."

Bonnie stared at him, aghast.

"She was going to sell me out to Klaus. She stopped by his house. Kim overheard Kol telling Klaus that a girl wanted to meet him and that it was a matter of life and death. I told them to eavesdrop on Klaus whenever they can," he said of the pack. "She texted Adrian the location and told him to intercept. Adrian called me. I'm actually glad she relied on him to solve it instead of contacting me directly. It's good for them to work together. But, Adrian told me what was up, and I told him to capture the person if he got there before me. When I got there….."

"Oh my God. Tyler."

"We killed her right there. She tried to bluff, to say that she was going to tell him someone's trying to kill him to distract him, but that makes no sense."

"She was going to sell you out," Bonnie said. Tyler had said it, but she needed to hear it again. "She was going to get you killed."

Tyler clasped his hands between his knees and lowered his head.

Bonnie gently laid her hand on his bicep. "I'm sorry."

"I don't understand. I don't know why this happened. I don't know what she was thinking, or….This isn't what I imagined when I stopped trusting her. I didn't trust her plan, but I still thought...I still thought she wanted to help."

"She didn't say anything?"

"Nothing that was a real answer. And it makes me wonder why she helped me in the first place. She's the one who helped me think of the idea to break the other Hybrids' bonds. And then she sells me out? But I couldn't question her. We only had a couple of minutes before Klaus came. We left her body for him to find. And then he came to my house to break the sad news."

"Oh my God."

He nodded. "I had to do this whole thing where I asked to see the body, then asked to bury her, and I told him to tell me when he found out who did it." He took a deep breath. "He thinks it was a werewolf. One of the wounds that I gave her, the one that made her bleed out, I tore into the vein on the inside of her elbow."

"You could've been killed. You could've died today," Bonnie said distantly. She'd said goodbye to him earlier this afternoon. She could've been sending that text tonight to a boy who was dead.

"Hey." Tyler lifted her chin and saw the horror in her eyes. He caressed her cheek and said, "I'm okay. I'm okay. Hey," he called her again when her eyes started to wander. He caressed her bottom lip with his thumb, and she leaned into it. "I'm fine."

Bonnie nodded. She pursed her lips to lay a gentle kiss on his thumb. She looked at him, and he licked his lips. She looked down at his thumb again and closed her eyes this time before she kissed it again. When her lips separated, he caressed both of them. "I'm happy you're okay," she said against his thumb. "Really happy."

Tyler smiled and folded his thumb under the other four fingers.

"But it sucks," she said. "When you meet someone, and they offer to help you, and you think they're helping you, and it turns out they were in it for themselves. Shane made himself available to me, but that warlock who stole stole my powers had made himself available to me, too. Shane seems to be sincere, but that experience, on top of the hell that was last year, is why I haven't been playing patient to his therapist. I just can't go through that again. But he made the offer again yesterday."

"The difference is that I don't know what Hayley was in this for," Tyler said. "But it does suck. A lot."

Bonnie pulled him into a hug, and he settled in her arms. As they held each other, something Bonnie had overlooked while in Shane's apartment clarified itself in her mind, and she frowned. She chose to wait to ask Tyler.

* * *

When they went back inside, Tyler asked Bonnie if she was going to hold the sword.

She rubbed her cheek. "Uh. What time is it?"

Tyler pulled out his phone. "11:33."

"It's a little late to go on another magical ride. This was enough for the day, plus this stuff with Hayley; I can touch the sword tomorrow."

Tyler smiled. "Okay."

She packed up her stuff, and Tyler picked up the sword. When she got to the front door, she magically snuffed out the torches.

Tyler loaded the sword in the back seat of her car when they cleared the woods.

"Goodnight," Bonnie said when they stood by the opened driver's door. Their cars' headlights illuminated the space around them.

"I was planning on following you home," Tyler said. "To make sure you're okay."

Bonnie started to play with his shirt. "You've had a rough day. You should go home."

"I really would like to go to bed right now," he chuckled.

Bonnie laughed. "Go. I'll be fine, and I'll text you when I make it home. You do the same for me too, okay?"

Tyler nodded. And then he leaned down and kissed her. Bonnie rose to his lips like she was taking her first breath. They kept their lips closed, but the kiss still managed to be the furthest thing from demure. Tyler pressed her against the car, and Bonnie grasped the lapels of his jacket.

It felt very nice, just pressing their lips against each other. It felt complete. A tease, but complete.

Tyler ended the kiss and touched his forehead to the top of hers.

"Thank you for the sword," Bonnie said softly under him.

"Any time." He looked down, and she looked up at him, and not for the first time her face reminded him of a heart, a soft one now, whereas the one screaming her curse before had been sharp and dangerous.

Bonnie watched him get in his car. He let her pull out first, and then they went their separate ways.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part 6: The God, Silas**

When Klaus woke up the next morning, he reached on his antique nightstand and grabbed Hayley's phone. Her killers had left her shoulder bag untouched.

_Unfortunately,_ despite 1,000 and an even number of years between them, a simple cell phone passcode thwarted him and Kol.

And despite his persistent paranoia and distrust of everyone around him, he slept like a rock. So he had not heard the phone ding when the text came in.

He saw the message icon at the top of the prompt for the passcode, but he couldn't retrieve it. He couldn't even see the telephone number of the sender, simply the text icon.

He hoped whoever was on the other end got frustrated by the lack of response and called.

For now, he got out of bed. He had a house call to make.

* * *

April woke up and remembered that she'd slumped on the floor of her bedroom and fallen asleep mid-prayer. She'd woken up in the middle of the night, blown out the candles and crawled to her bed.

Deterred from her plan to speak to Rebekah's family, she'd wandered for the rest of yesterday. She'd visited the church where her father had preached during so many Sundays, the same place where parishioners had gathered to remember him, and she'd visited his grave.

When she'd returned to her somber home, she had gone to her father's altar room, a room she hadn't stepped foot in since he died, and gathered the materials of his shrine. She'd reconstructed it in her room, drawn His symbol and everything.

Her father had been a priest, but, like many people, his personal belief had a syncretistic bent. He'd worshiped the Almighty God. He'd also prayed to Silas.

She'd stayed away from both, unable to understand why her father couldn't just choose one. She'd been annoyed by the number of Christians who admired him and relied on him for advice all the while he fervently prayed to someone else. Personally, she found Silas cooler than God, simply because of all the setup that went into praying to him, but it was God that she had questioned when she had received the news of her father's death.

Now she got on bended knees and lit the two candles from last night. She closed her eyes and bowed to the altar, touching her forehead to the hardwood floor, and rose. She did so four more times. She rose with her eyes closed and said, "It's me. It's April." She chuckled. "I guess I'm not off to a good start, falling asleep in the middle of praying and all. Not that I've never prayed to you before. I have, twice or three times. But I guess you know that. Or not, since I didn't keep it up. Anyways. My dad always mentioned me when he prayed to you, so I hope you know me through him." She quieted it as her heart cracked anew. "He was murdered, killed, and there are people covering it up. There are people who know, and I want them to answer. I don't just want a confession anymore. These people are heartless, and...I want them to answer. I know you can do that. I believe you can do that. You're my last option. Praise onto you, Silas."

* * *

Bonnie stretched her body and yawned. For the first time since her attraction to him had started, she'd dreamt of Tyler. In the dream, he bit Hayley in the neck and drained her blood, vampire-style. Then he bit her arm with his werewolf teeth. She was suddenly in the school bathroom with him, because he was killing Hayley in the bathroom now, and he looked at her and licked his bloody mouth. Then he was in front of her, and he was pressing her against the side of the Witches' House, and she was naked from the waist down, and her body was full of magic. His hands pinned her wrists above her head. She grinned up at him, and he grinned down at her, his mouth clean, and he said "Spirit-witch," and she closed her eyes and lifted her chin, basking in the way he spoke those words because those words were magic. He was still grinning when she opened her eyes, and then she gasped, because her left leg was around his hip; his other hand had a punishing grip on her ass, and he was thrusting into her.

She opened her eyes now and moaned her happiness. She didn't get to orgasm in the dream. He fucked her, and it was great, and his dick felt great, and he kept kissing her neck, but then the dream switched off, and she was just in deep sleep. It was a great dream, one she planned to think about for the rest of the day.

She didn't consider him a disloyal cheater who was no better than Jeremy anymore, and she pinpointed that she had abandoned the thought up on the drive to rescue Shane. Tyler was a good person. He still owed Caroline loyalty, but comparing him to Jeremy felt disingenuous now, because it was a comparison meant to downplay him. And doing that didn't feel natural anymore. She liked him.

She picked up her phone from the nightstand and checked the time. She had stopped her alarm twelve minutes ago. She sat up and swung her legs to the floor. She set the phone next to her left thigh, and when she lifted her eyes from the phone she gasped at what she saw.

The sword that she had placed under her bed when she'd come home last night was now free of the cloth and standing unaided on her floor at the foot of the bed. She stood and approached it. "Uh." She circled it. "Okay."

Time for the moment of truth. If the thing was standing by itself, then it definitely had some power in it.

She grabbed the handle and lifted the sword. The power that was helping it stand yielded immediately, and Bonnie's hand dropped with the weight of the sword. She grabbed it with both hands and picked it back up. The weapon felt old in her hands. It looked like it would be at home in some wealthy old White or Arab man's "personal collection," the kind that he only brought out when he wanted to show off to leaders of countries.

The blade was a grey-black color now, though the edges and tip still looked sharp and deadly. She put the tip on the floor and got on one knee to look at the designs that were just below the hilt. She traced her thumb over the one that matched the mark on the back of Jeremy's hand, and she wondered what the second generation of Hunters had thought when a strange tattoo had appeared on their hand. She moved her thumb up and traced the spirals that went up to the pommel, and she noticed that there were carvings on the hilt. She traced every groove. The pommel itself had several designs forged into it: several spirals, a snake, and what looked like the bottom half of a sun.

Bonnie touched three fingers to the blade and came away with red rust, soot, and grime. She grimaced and wiped her fingers on her shorts and made a mental note to put them in the hamper when she took them off.

She stood and grabbed the sword with both hands and widened her stance and bent her knees. She lifted the sword and pointed the end at an imaginary opponent, lifting her hands no higher than her waist. Then she wondered if there would be a difference if Jeremy was the one holding the weapon.

She sighed. No vision had come. She put the tip on the wood floor and slowly removed her hand. The sword remained standing. She wondered if that would happen for Jeremy, too. Following a sudden idea, she walked to her bedroom door. She turned around and extended her hand toward the sword, no power, just a gesture. The sword lifted and drifted to her, hilt first.

She smiled.

"Oh, crap." She held the sword with both hands and ran to her phone. She stood the sword on the floor and checked to see how much time had passed. If she didn't leave in twenty-four, she was going to be late.

She got on her knees and lifted the covers of the bed and saw the opened cloth. The sword had rolled itself out. She pulled the cloth out and wrapped the sword again, and then she went to shower. She was going to start working on marrying the sword and the white oak shavings from the stake that afternoon.

* * *

She greeted her father when she entered the kitchen.

"Morning," Rudy answered from the floor. Everything they stored under the sink, from baking soda to used frying grease, was on the floor.

"What are you doing?" Bonnie asked.

"The faucet turned on about 10 minutes ago, and I can't turn it off."

Bonnie hiked her bag on her shoulder and moved the cold right handle of the faucet to the on position, then off. She tried it with the left handle.

"Nothing's leaking," Rudy said from under the sink. "But I can't turn it off, and I need to leave for work. I should go to one of the other houses and ask if they're having the same problem. Is the sink in your bathroom okay?"

"Yeah," Bonnie answered. She stuck her hand under the water. Cold. She tried the cold handle again. Nothing, and the water was coming out like the handle was all the way on.

She backed up when her father started to move out from under the sink.

"I'm heading to Sister Leonora's place to-"

Rudy frowned and blinked, his attention caught by something behind Bonnie.

"What?" Bonnie asked and half turned to look behind her. The sword was standing just inside of the kitchen.

She hurried toward the artifact and spun to face her father.

"What is that?" Rudy asked.

"Nothing."

Rudy gave her a look that asked her if she wanted to try again.

"It's nothing. It's a sword that's like 900 years old."

"And it's in the house because?"

"I need it? Tyler got it for me."

"You need it for what?"

"A spell, dad."

"What _kind _of spell?"

"That's the part I can't get into."

"Bonnie, you got into a magical fight at school; you rushed in and out of here last night; didn't come back home until 12, and why is that Lockwood kid suddenly here every night? And that's just the stuff that's been happening this week. Listen, I know I messed up; I know you're not used to talking to me about this kind of stuff, and that's completely my fault. But I'm going to need you to start making an effort, because I'm listening."

"Dad, it's not just…that stuff. Knowing is dangerous. Do you have any idea how many of the people who _knew_ have gotten killed? I can't….I can't lose you."

"You're not going to lose me."

"I'm not talking about it, okay? I'm not."

She went to the living room and dumped her bag on the couch. She then walked up the stairs and went to her bedroom.

Rudy looked at the sword, and just before he was able to touch it it lifted away and drifted upstairs, hilt first.

* * *

Caroline stepped out of her house and locked the door. She left the porch and headed toward her Ford Fiesta. There was an SUV parked behind her car. She didn't note anything special about it, other than her car looked better, and then the driver's door opened and Klaus stepped out.

"Good morning, Caroline."

"This isn't really what I wanted first thing in the morning."

Klaus smiled as he walked up to her. "So we're back to this again. And to think we had such a lovely conversation at the Festival."

"Chuck it up to the Christmas spirit. What do you want?"

"Your help. I am looking for someone, and, as the only person I know who has their finger on the pulse of this little town…." He smiled.

He had her attention. She did know everyone and _of _everyone who was worth knowing.

"I don't know her name," Klaus said. "She was described to me as a young girl, a little younger than Elena, maybe even a lot younger. Dark hair, kind of awkward, talks a little too much, takes a little too long to get to the point. She came to my house, but unfortunately I was not the one who spoke to her, and I don't know where she lives."

The phone in his left pants pocket started to vibrate. He quickly fished it out and looked at the screen. _A_. That was the only identifier. "Excuse me," he said to Caroline, and he answered. "Hayley's phone."

On the other side, Shane was at a loss. British accent. But it didn't sound like the man who had beaten him up. He let the person speak.

"I'm afraid Hayley's forgotten her phone. Would you like to leave a message, or will you be calling her back?"

Shane closed his eyes. He hung up.

Klaus inhaled deeply and looked at the phone. He swiped the screen and was prompted for the damn passcode. "I don't suppose you know how to hack a cell phone," he said as he looked up at Caroline. He stopped short when he saw how she was looking at him.

"Why do you have Hayley's cell phone?" Caroline asked quietly.

"It's not what you're thinking, love." He cocked his head. "Do you not know?"

"Know what?"

Klaus gritted his teeth. She was giving him that look he hated: the one where she was seconds away from slowly backing away from the big bad dangerous Hybrid. "I assumed Tyler told you. His savior, Hayley….she's dead."

"What?"

"And I found her."

"What? How?" Caroline took a step back. "Why do you have her phone?"

"She was killed by werewolves yesterday, and I thought this might tell me who was involved. But all I have is _A_." He softened his regard and said, "I never meant for that little display to be how you found out. It was a no brainer to me that you already knew."

"I didn't," Caroline said, and she headed to her car.

Klaus followed after her. "Caroline."

"I can't talk to you, Klaus," she said as she unlocked and opened the car. "I can't help you." She climbed in and started the car. "I have to get to Tyler."

Klaus opened the door. "The girl. She relayed Hayley's message for me to meet her."

"I don't know who she is," Caroline said and pulled the door from him.

Klaus watched her drive off. He didn't care about her getting to Tyler. He cared about her getting to Stefan.

* * *

Caroline looked in her rearview mirror and saw Klaus get in his car. When she got to the stop sign, she pressed the button that opened the car's bluetooth. "Call Tyler."

"Hey," Tyler answered.

"Hey," she said carefully. "How are you?"

"I'm good. I'm okay."

"Really? You're okay? I just found out Hayley's….dead." There was no sound from the other side. "Tyler? Why didn't you tell me? Klaus said you found out yesterday."

"Did you just say Klaus?"

"He was just at my house. Tyler. I mean, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What did Klaus say?"

"I'm trying to figure out if you're okay."

"I'm fine; I'm dealing with it."

Caroline didn't believe him. She felt like he was holding back, maybe even planning something stupid for revenge.

"What did Klaus say?" Tyler repeated.

"Ty….he has her cell phone." Again, he was silent. "The good news is that he can't get pass the lock code. Please tell me there's nothing on there about your plan to kill him."

"I sent her a text yesterday telling her to meet me and the other Hybrids."

Caroline grimaced at the bad news. Hopefully Klaus never got passed the lock. "We need to steal the phone or something."

"I gotta go."

"Tyler-are you still coming to school?"

"Yeah, I'll see you there."

"Maybe you shouldn't come. Maybe we should skip-"

"I'm coming; I'll see you there."

He hung up, and Caroline inhaled her frustration and switched gears. "Call Stefan."

"Hey."

"Hey. Okay. We have bad news. Klaus was waiting outside my house, and he told me Hayley's dead, but that's not the important part. I mean, that's not the part that matters to you. He told me that a girl stopped by his house, and from the way he described her I'm _thinking_ it was April."

"Did he say what she wanted?"

"He didn't get to talk to her. But now he's trying to. He said she had important information."

"Damn it."

"Stefan, she's going to get herself killed."

"I know. We need to get through to her."

"Compelling her's not an option. We can't touch that damn bracelet unless she takes it off."

"Then maybe we just need to convince her to be compelled."

"How the heck are we gonna do that?"

"I've got an idea. Hopefully she'll be at the school today."

"You're coming back to school?" she asked, surprised.

"Don't get your hopes. It's just for this. Who's Hayley?"

And just like that, her frustration came back. She breathed in and out and answered, "A whole lot of nothing I want to talk about. She was Tyler's friend, and now she's dead, and he knew that, and he didn't tell me. I had to find out from _Klaus_."

"He was probably in shock."

"Right," Caroline said, frowning. "I just…" She sighed. "Nevermind. Just, nevermind. I'll see you at school."

* * *

Bonnie locked her car and headed inside of the school. She really didn't need her dad's questions. He was right that she was uncomfortable telling him all of her magical business. The invisible seal between them had broken when her mother had died. She had stayed away from home for almost a week, first taking Abby's body to Caroline's and staying there and then going to Abby's place.

Rudy had blown up her phone, but she'd had no energy to fake her way through another conversation with him. After she'd done what she could for Alaric, she had returned to Abby's house and stayed there by herself after the emotional vampire had run away. She'd told Caroline and Elena to tell her father that they knew where she was, but they couldn't tell him how to find her.

When she had finally gone home, Rudy had been standing on the edge and ready to jump down her throat when she'd said, "Mom's a vampire now." She'd been nursing a headache in the back of her skull for nearly a week. She'd couldn't hold up her end of her and her father's superficial relationship anymore.

So no, she did not want to tell him every single thing simply because he was ready to hear it now. And it wasn't even that he'd made the change himself! She'd forced it on him! He'd been perfectly willing to live out the broken down version of their relationship for the rest of her life, it had seemed.

But she also really did not want him to get hurt. Her grandmother and mother had known every detail of the magical world, and they'd had powers, and that hadn't been enough to save them. On the human side, Elena's aunt had known, and Alaric had known, and they were both six feet under now. It was dangerous enough for her father that _she_ knew and actively participated in everything.

Shane knew, and he'd almost lost his life. And Klaus had made an explicit threat on her dad's life. She wasn't going to tell him anything more than what he needed to know.

Inside the school, she saw Jeremy coming out of the cafeteria with a grape jelly-filled biscuit. She shook her head fondly and caught up to him. He was always munching on something.

She tapped his left shoulder and stepped to his right. He didn't fall for the trick.

He smiled at her. "Hey."

"Hi," she answered with a smile of her own. "You're back." The fact that she was no longer interested in having a relationship with him did not erase the fact that he had a very cute face. But Tyler's was more chiseled. Like stone. Sexy stone.

"Yeah. I'm gonna continue the training in the woods now. That way I can do it with Matt, and screw Damon."

Bonnie smiled. "Sounds like a good idea to me." She looked around them and pulled Jeremy to a corner. "I think I need your help with something."

"What is it?"

"This doesn't leave this corner, but….I have this sword. And I need you to touch it to see if anything happens."

Jeremy blinked. "Okay."

Bonnie smiled. "Come to my house after school, and I'll explain a little bit more."

"Is this about….what I think it's about?"

"Yeah."

"Wait." He lowered his voice and continued, "Are you talking about _the _sword? Klaus' sword?" Because how many swords were there? None of them cared anything about swords, but nowadays everyone was talking about the one that Klaus had.

Bonnie answered with her eyes, and that choice on her part made him wonder how exactly she'd come in possession of it.

"So you'll come over?"

"Yeah," he answered.

She smiled. "Great. See you then."

* * *

Caroline saw Tyler walking across the courtyard and heading toward the school after she parked, and she ran to catch up with him. She touched his back when she got close enough.

"Hey," Tyler greeted when he looked over.

"Hey." She grabbed his bicep to stop him. "I really don't think you should be here. We can still go home, go to your house and just hang out."

"I'm fine. I can make it through today."

"Tyler."

"Caroline, I'm not in denial. Okay? I'm okay."

"How can you be?"

"I just need to find out what Klaus knows. Did he say anything else to you?"

"He was asking for someone who I'm pretty sure is April. He didn't have her name, but he wanted to know who she was. She went by his house and asked to talk to him."

Tyler threw that information away. It had nothing to do with Klaus possibly getting closer to his plan.

"Stefan's going to talk to her."

"Okay."

"Ty….I'm worried about you. I feel like….this is not normal. When Chris died-" She cut herself off, because she hadn't meant to bring up that black mark on their relationship. But it was helping her make a point. "After he died, going to class was the last thing on your mind."

"I know. But Hayley wasn't Chris."

"She helped you break your sire bond."

Tyler nodded, his questions about Hayley's motive coming back to him. "Right."

Caroline realized that she wasn't going to get anywhere with him, so she settled for walking beside him, and they headed inside together.

* * *

Tyler didn't get to speak to Bonnie until the first of the day's classes let out. He'd sent her a text asking her where her second class was, and now he rushed to the third floor. His second class was on the third floor, too, but his was on the east side while she was straight down the middle from the double doors that led inside the floor and around a left turn.

He didn't go directly to her class. They met in the middle of the corridor, next to a row of windows.

"Hey. What's up?" Bonnie asked when she came up to him.

"Klaus has Hayley's cell phone."

"_What_?"

"I completely forgot to grab it, didn't even _think_ to grab it. It's not like I do this type of thing every day, and now we might be screwed because of it." He leaned back against the windows. "I can't steal it," he thought aloud. "He just told me yesterday that Hayley's dead, and he didn't tell me about the cell phone. If it goes missing, he'll suspect me."

"Has he found anything in it?"

"I don't think so. It's locked. But there's a text in there of me telling Hayley to meet me and the others yesterday and a _couple _of texts talking about meeting so we can work on breaking certain Hybrids' bonds."

Bonnie was relieved that the phone was locked. Every time they took a step away from Klaus, something pushed them a step back.

"We really need to work on that sword," Tyler said. "Is there any way you can start on it soon?"

"Is this afternoon good?" she asked with a small smile. "I'm having Jeremy over to help me with it."

Tyler frowned and straightened from the wall. "Why Jeremy?"

"I want to see if the sword reacts to his touch. I held it this morning, and it did nothing, though it was standing straight up at the foot of my bed when I woke up, and it followed me to the kitchen. And if I hold out my hand, it comes to me."

Tyler was stuck on Jeremy. "Did you tell him?"

"Yeah. It's a Hunter's sword, and he's a Hunter, and I want to see if anything happens when he touches it." Bonnie saw that he was not going for the idea.

"You told him you have the sword. You just told him and didn't tell me."

"I planned on telling you after."

"But not before."

"Did I need permission?"

"Bonnie….I went through a lot to get that sword. I _risked_ a lot, and it wasn't just me."

"I know that," Bonnie said with a frown. "But bringing Jeremy in might help us; it might help _me_."

"Bringing him into what?"

Bonnie blinked at his tone.

Up the corridor and to the right of the double doors that led straight down the corridor, Caroline watched the argument brew. Her and Bonnie shared second period, and she'd started down the hallway only to see her and Tyler talking. She wasn't listening in, still couldn't bring herself to, but she was watching their body language.

Elena walked up to her and asked, "What are we staring at so intensely?"

"Tyler," she answered without looking at her.

"And Bonnie," Elena added when she saw them. "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd love to know."

"We can always go over there and ask."

When Caroline didn't respond, Elena looked at her. Her arms were crossed, and she looked completely unhappy. "Is something going on?"

Caroline scoffed.

"We can always eavesdrop-"

"No!" Caroline turned suddenly. "No eavesdropping. I can think of that myself, thank you."

Elena reared back at the subtle attitude. "Do you think they're talking about…..?" What would Bonnie and Tyler talk about? "Klaus?" she tried. "Or the cure?"

She looked at Caroline again when she remained silent.

In the middle of the corridor, Bonnie answered Tyler. "Bringing him into my _house_ so he can touch the sword. Letting him _know _that I have the sword. What's the problem?"

"The problem is that I don't need this getting out to more people. Stefan knows, Damon knows, all the wrong people-"

"Jeremy isn't the wrong people-"

"I know that, _but he's an extra person_, one who doesn't need to know. Rebekah got too close; Kol's here; Klaus is sniffing around-"

"Okay, but that has nothing to do with Jeremy. This isn't just about you-"

"How many people do you think can learn bits and pieces of information before Klaus swoops in and puts it all together?"

Bonnie was at a loss for words. "What do you want me to say? What _exactly_ do you want me to say, Tyler? _I_ feel that I need to talk to Jeremy about this so that I can cross at least one thing off my list, my _very long_ list. You're not the only person relying on me; my _mom_ and Lucy are waiting on me, too, and I'm making detours like cursing Rebekah to-"

"I'm not _relying_ on you."

"You know what-"

"Oh my God," Tyler said, trepidation coloring his voice as he realized that this was turning into another argument and another instance where she was mad at him. He moved to touch her to try and squash it.

"No," Bonnie said, holding her hands up. "I'm going to class. I'm not dealing with this."

"Bonnie-"

"_No_." She turned and walked away.

Tyler sighed and looked up at the ceiling. This day was officially bullshit.

* * *

Caroline met up with Bonnie when it was time to switch to third period. They weren't going to the same class, but she needed to satisfy her curiosity. She observed Bonnie from the back as she walked toward her. She had looked upset during the whole class.

Caroline sped up until she was walking next to her. "Hey."

Bonnie looked over. "Hey," she greeted with a tiny smile.

"How was class for you?"

"Uh, fine. This stuff's easier to pay attention to now that it's the last year," she said with a small chuckle. "But then there's all the other stuff that gets in the way."

"Like what?"

"The super freaky stuff."

Caroline smiled. "Right." She usually has no problem focusing in class, even when the super freaky stuff actually land at her door. Those instances actually make her cling to the normalcy of being in class even more. Though she had had to leave class to have two breakdowns in the bathroom the week after her father had tortured her. She'd called Tyler those two times, and he'd left class to stay with her in the bathroom.

"How was class for you?" Bonnie asked.

"Uh, about the same. I was a little distracted. A lot distracted. Something bad happened yesterday….to Tyler's friend Hayley. She was attacked by werewolves. Did you hear?"

"Uh yeah," Bonnie answered. "I found out last night. It's random."

Caroline nodded. Curiosity satisfied. She had a strong urge to kick Tyler's ass up and down every hallway in this building.

"How's Tyler dealing with it?" Bonnie asked.

_Why don't you tell me?_ "Um, he's dealing. I'm doing my best to help him."

Bonnie smiled and nodded.

"I'm hoping we can hang out later today," she added.

Bonnie looked at her. "Right. That would be good for him."

Caroline smiled.

When they separated, when Bonnie headed to the double doors to rush down to the second floor, Caroline said one thing as she watched her go: "Slut."

And then she felt bad. None of her friends were ever supposed to fit into that category. She'd thought some mean and petty things about Elena back when she'd been human and struggling with her self-esteem, but she was passed that. She didn't want to start having problems with Bonnie now. She was _never_ supposed to have any problems with Bonnie.

But then, none of her friends were ever supposed to be closer to her boyfriend than she was. Sure she'd dated Matt after Elena, but they'd been broken up; she'd been positive that Matt deserved better than Elena at that point in his life and that she was it. But it had seemed at times that Matt still carried a torch for Elena. He'd eventually convinced her that he didn't, but to this he was still _loyal_ to Elena and still cared for her and was still a friend to her despite the fact that they hadn't been together in more than two years.

Yet _she_ couldn't even keep her own _boyfriend's_ loyalty?

* * *

After third period was B-Lunch, and she found Tyler just as he entered the cafeteria. She asked to speak to him next to the garbage can that was by the double doors.

She crossed her arms and commenced, "So you told Bonnie yesterday?"

"What?"

"_Hayley_. You _told_ her about Hayley yesterday. Unless I'm mistaken and Klaus gave her a house call, too. _Tell me_ I'm mistaken and Klaus gave her a house call, too."

Tyler took a deep breath.

"Oh my God, _wow_. Are you freaking kidding me?"

"It's not a big deal-"

"Not a big deal?" she asked and leaned toward him to make sure she'd heard right. She started to talk with her hands and said, "Tyler, you've been closed off to me all day, and turns out it's because you got it all off your chest with Bonnie yesterday? What is going on?"

"_Nothing_. There was nothing to get off my chest."

"Now you're lying. You're supposed to come to _me_ with this stuff. Something bad happens, I'm supposed to be your first call. I'm your _girlfriend_."

"_Hayley dying wasn't a bad thing._"

Caroline stilled. "What?"

"Her dying...wasn't a bad thing." He didn't want her to know, but he didn't have much of a choice now. "I killed her."

Caroline's face lost all emotion. Her mouth fell open, and she stopped blinking.

"Caroline?"

Everything started back up again, and she reacted. "_What? _I didn't hear. I didn't hear what you said. Tell me I didn't hear you."

"She was going to sell me out to Klaus."

"What?"

"She was going to meet him."

She was completely bowled over.

"I got there first, and I...I killed her."

It took her a moment more to find her words.

"Caroline."

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "You killed her," she said softly. "She helped you, though. I don't understand."

"Neither do I. But I had no time to ask her twenty questions. I had to move fast."

"Tyler. I'm sorry."

"I'm dealing with it. As much as I can."

"You should've told me. Why didn't you? How could you not? I mean if I'd done something like that-"

"Things tend to get around when I tell you. It doesn't actually _stay_ with you," he added when she stared at him in shock.

"Are you kidding me? Are we back to _that_?"

"_That_? Like it wasn't a big deal? Look, I know you trust Stefan; I know he's your friend, but he's not mine. I don't trust him. He doesn't care about me, and he's made that clear, and I don't give a shit that he doesn't, but that also means that I _don't_ want him knowing my business."

"So you're punishing me. This is punishment."

"No, I'm saving you from having to choose."

"Oh wow, Ty, thank you _so _much. But you can trust Bonnie."

Tyler closed his eyes. "I asked her to help me with Klaus." Another thing he _didn't_ want to tell her.

"Well I'm just very out of the loop, aren't I?"

They stood in silence for a moment, and in that moment Caroline's face turned long with hurt.

"Listen," he began, "The truth is…telling you this stuff feels like a risk."

"You mean a risk for you. That's what you mean, right? But me spending the day with Klaus at the pageant...that wasn't a risk. I could be trusted then. Right? It was one _stupid_ mistake, Tyler. You're letting it ruin our relationship. I've _always _been there for you, starting with when you became a werewolf. Remember that? _Nothing's_ changed, but you're shutting me out."

Tyler didn't respond. It wasn't just one mistake, but he didn't see the point of getting into it. "I'm gonna get in line."

While he stood in the taco line, he remembered that he hadn't asked her to spend the day with Klaus at the pageant. That had not come from him. She had told him that Klaus had asked for the date in return for him doing her the favor of killing one of his Hybrids, and she had agreed.

* * *

Behind the auditorium, April dragged on her cigarette. She could feel herself slipping into a bad place. She was losing steam, didn't feel like reaching out to Rebekah's family anymore. She knew that her father deserved to at least have the one person who loved him unconditionally know the truth about how and why he died, but she'd lost Rebekah, and everyone else was shutting her out.

She heard footsteps approaching and quickly dropped her cigarette and stepped on it.

Stefan rounded the corner and saw her. "April? April Young?"

"Yes?"

He smiled. "I'm Stefan Salvatore. I'm, uh, a friend of Caroline's. She told me where to find you. Listen, April, you're in very big trouble. That man, that vampire whose house you went to last night, he's looking for you."

"Oh really." She kept her voice even.

"Yeah, really, and when he finds you he's not going to care about your father or what you're looking for. He's only going to care about what _he's_ looking for and what he's looking for are answers. Did you know the girl you spoke to yesterday?"

"What girl?"

"The one who gave you the message to give to Klaus."

"No."

"Okay, well I don't know if you're telling the truth or not, but, again, Klaus won't care. He will force it out of you."

"What, compel me?"

"I know you think you're completely safe because you're wearing that bracelet, but it'll only take you so far. He can still kill you. He can still _hurt_ you. And if you can't grasp that, then consider this: Rebekah was absolutely terrified of him. And she was almost the same age as him. Klaus Mikaelson is terror, and right now you have what he wants."

April swallowed nervously. She liked her lips and asked, "And what's that?"

"The girl who spoke to you yesterday," Klaus interrupted.

April spun around.

"He's always been one for dramatics," Klaus said of Stefan. "All I want is exactly what you know, nothing more."

"You followed me," Stefan stated as he moved to stand next to April.

"Caroline is so...reliable. I knew that she would go directly to you with her information and that you, ever the protector," he said with a smile that suggested that they both knew the ironic side to that statement, "Would take me to the correct party. April. Stefan is right: I do not care about your father. I did not know him. But if my sister made you a promise, I can follow through. The girl who spoke to you yesterday: she's been killed. She died before I could meet her, and I want to find out who did it."

April thought a moment. If he wanted to help, "I want you to wake Rebekah."

"I'm afraid that's out of the question. She's asleep, put under by a witch's spell."

"Then get her to reverse it. Don't tell me you can't do that if you're so big and bad," she said with a quick glance at Stefan.

"There are rules to magic, April. This one has a time limit: fourteen days. There are," he did a quick calculation, "eleven days left."

"Then we can talk in eleven days."

Klaus grabbed her by the throat and lifted her until she was eye-level with him, and he slammed her against the concrete wall.

"Klaus," Stefan said. He looked around. "We're in public."

"So? We're secluded. What's another death on school property?"

"Then you won't find the answers you're looking for," Stefan pointed out.

April's head cleared from the impact against the concrete wall, but she struggled to breathe. She was literally hanging by her neck. "I don't….I don't know anything. I don't….know her."

"What did she say to you?"

"Let her go and she'll answer," Stefan stressed.

April fell on her feet when her neck was freed. She started coughing uncontrollably, her throat scratchy. "She said….to ask for you. I swear everything I told that man is all I know. She said it was a matter of life and death. After he closed the door, I….I signaled to her that I didn't know if you'd get the message, and she left. I swear that's all. I'd never seen her before."

"Good. Now while we're here, pray tell," he said as he squatted to be eye level with her, "What did my sister mean to accomplish with her….charade."

April felt her last chance slip away. "She planned to kill Matt, then compel Elena, Caroline, and Stefan into telling her-how far things had progressed since she was out." She swallowed when a storm started to brew on Klaus' face.

"What _things_?"

"Everything that had gone on since she'd been stabbed. She wanted to know what she'd missed. She planned to compel one of your Hybrids."

"Yes, I know."

"I was supposed to get Matt alone and just...be a spy for her. In return she would help me figure out what happened to my father."

"But you left when you realized things were going south," Stefan guessed.

"She texted me and said something was wrong. I asked her what, and she said she wasn't sure but that she was coming to the school to find out. I waited, but no werewolf came to the library, so I left."

"Curious," Klaus said.

"Why's that?" Stefan asked.

"Tyler Lockwood said that Rebekah tried to compel him, but Bonnie saved him. Now young April tells me that Rebekah only came to the school because something went wrong."

"Rebekah was only supposed to come to the school for the interrogation part, not the compulsion part," April said. Maybe she could get Klaus to see her as valuable.

Stefan threw her a look.

"And my brother Kol?" Klaus asked.

"I didn't know anything about him. I didn't even know his name. She only said she had a brother she could get to help."

Klaus realized that he'd never asked Kol what Rebekah told him. He supposed there was no point now that April had told him Rebekah's motive, but it was very likely that Kol could add something he didn't know. After all, April had just thrown Tyler's version of events into a less than truthful light.

"Thank you, April. My plate is full at the moment, but I promise you that once I have everything worked out, I will help you with your father's case."

"Okay," April said.

"One more thing: Kol wasn't able to find Rebekah's cell phone in her car."

April swallowed. "I have it."

"I want it."

"It's in my house."

Klaus smiled. "I will give you my number. Text me your address."

"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea," Stefan said. "April, never invite a vampire into your house. I'll stop by and pick it up, and I'll bring it to you."

"Or you can stop by with me and watch the hand-off." He already had one problem with a cell phone. He didn't need two.

"Okay," April agreed.

* * *

Lunch was almost over, but Stefan snuck inside the cafeteria and found Caroline at her usual table.

"Hey," Caroline greeted. "Have you talked to April yet?"

"Just did. Klaus interrupted."

"What?"

"She's fine. I mean he put her in a chokehold at one point, but she's fine."

"Well, isn't that what she wanted?"

Stefan lifted his eyebrows but didn't comment. "Uh, he's going by her house later to pick up Rebekah's phone. I'm going with him to make sure he doesn't do anything to her."

Caroline finished her milk. If April wanted to get killed, that was her business. She wasn't going to run after her to keep her alive. Especially not with April's attitude.

"Listen," Stefan continued. "I don't know what exactly Tyler told Klaus about that day, but April told him something new. She told him that Rebekah was only coming to the school because something was going wrong with her plan, that she only planned to be there for the interrogation."

"Well, I don't know what exactly Tyler told Klaus either, because I don't get to know what Tyler tells Klaus, because I'm a _risk_."

Stefan blinked. "What?"

"You'd be better off going to the source. Or Bonnie."

"Caroline, what's going on?"

"Tyler knew since yesterday that Hayley was dead. And he didn't tell me."

"I told you, maybe he was-"

"No, _he wasn't_. Stop trying to defend him, he doesn't deserve it. He's still mad about me telling you about his plan. I don't know what he thinks is going to happen. It's not like you're going to get in his way."

Stefan said nothing. He and Damon had already talked about it, and Damon was very ready to get in Tyler's way if need be.

"But he doesn't get that," Caroline continued. "Maybe I should arrange a meeting between the two of you. Like, a dinner. Elena did it for you and Bonnie, and it worked. You know, until you killed her mother, but that wouldn't happen here."

"Uh, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not? He doesn't trust you, and it makes me feel like I'm being pulled in two directions. I can't support him one hundred percent with his plan until _after _we get the cure. I wish we didn't have to, for his sake, but we do."

"I don't know what to tell you. Because you're right: he cannot touch Klaus until we either get the cure or don't need him to get it anymore."

Caroline sighed.

* * *

The bell had rung and Tyler was on his way to class when Stefan grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him to a corner near the boys' bathroom. He'd chosen to eat lunch outside with Matt and so had missed Stefan's presence in the cafeteria.

"Hey," Stefan said.

Tyler looked at the hand that still rested on his shoulder.

Stefan took it away and smiled. "Are we really doing this?"

"What do you want? Klaus is still alive, so…."

"I'm here to warn you. Klaus paid a visit to April Young. He was questioning her about Hayley, but then he asked her about Rebekah. Something she said about the day Rebekah was put down caught his attention. She told him that Rebekah didn't come to the school until something went wrong, which doesn't match you telling him that she tried to compel you."

Tyler _really_ wanted to get to the part where Klaus was dead. Bonnie had the sword. The only reason Stefan and Caroline wanted Klaus alive was because he'dhad the sword. But now Stefan's side had it, plus, unbeknownst to them, Bonnie's mom and cousin. They don't need Klaus anymore. The only problem is that killing Klaus would lead to Bonnie having to answer a whole lot of questions, but that might be something that they have to risk.

He realized as he stood there that he would absolutely kill Stefan and Damon if it meant clearing the way for Bonnie to get what she wanted.

"Thanks for the warning," Tyler said.

He started to leave, but Stefan said, "There's one more thing. I know it's none of my business, but Caroline….she's worried about you. She's worried about the two of you. I know you're planning something big, and I know you're going through a lot, but don't let revenge tear you two apart. You've got a great girl-"

"Stefan? You really should've stopped at 'it's none of my business.' It _isn't _any of your business."

"I'm just saying-"

"_Don't_. Caroline can talk to you about this, and apparently anything else she wants, _all_ she wants, but that doesn't mean you can bring it to me. Did I ever pretend to give a shit about _your _relationship?"

Stefan chuckled and shook his head.

"Thanks again for the tip. We have nothing else to talk about."

As he walked away, Stefan said, "You're gonna get your revenge and then you're gonna look around and realize you're without the one person who's always been there for you."

Tyler was through the door before Stefan finished.

Stefan was about to leave, but he realized that there had been running water during his conversation with Tyler. And it was still there.

He opened the boys bathroom and stopped short. There was water all over the floor and now it was leaking passed the door. He stepped inside and saw that all of the faucets were on, and the basins were overflowing. He tried to turn off the handles, but it was no use. The drainers were all closed, leaving the water nowhere to go but up. He went into one of the stalls and saw the same phenomenon that had taken place in his apartment's bathroom this morning: the water in the toilets was rising and flowing to the floor.

* * *

School was over, and Bonnie was walking to her car and calling Abby. Abby had texted her to ask how the curse had gone.

As the phone rang, she frowned up at the fat, dark grey clouds that had gathered during fourth period. She got in the white Prius and started the ignition.

"Hello?"

"Hey."

"Hi. How are you?"

"I'm doing good."

"Really? Did you do the spell last night? You don't sound like a girl who got what she wanted."

"Uh, I did. It's just other stuff. But the spell went well. For the most part."

"What's the other part?" Abby asked.

"I think I had a vision at the end of it. I saw a big field, a house, someone flicking on a lighter, and an explosion. And then a word came to my mind: duodecad."

"What do you think it means?" Abby asked.

"I looked up the word while I was in class. A duodecad is a group of twelve things. The explosion I saw….there was a pastor who died back in September. He was with a group of people. They were 12 in total."

"So it was a vision of the past, not the future?"

"I think so, but why would I be having a vision while casting a curse?"

"Well, it depends on the ritual you did. Sometimes these big rituals can cause us to tap into other mojo, especially if we fall into a trance in the middle of them, because then we're very open to psychic energy."

"Wait, you think….you think that explosion on the farm is part of some mojo?"

"That's what it would have to be, especially since you saw something from the past and not the future. There's nothing you can do about the past. Not unless what's in the past is linked to something that's going to happen in the future."

"Duodecad," Bonnie said, more to herself than to Abby. "I did what Lucy said. I worked with the number 12. I connected to Jupiter's moon, and I invoked the Goddess Lysithea, and the God Oceanus, and the Spirit Clermeil-"

"Wait a second, wait a second, wait. You invoked a _Spirit_?"

"Lucy told me to be careful with them, and I was."

"How? Bonnie, a lot of those Spirits are tricky. A lot of Them will absolutely not do what you want without getting something out of it first. Sometimes They'll even make things a little worse for you before They make it better. They take offense if you don't worship Them but expect Them to do you favors."

"But the curse worked. I felt it go into effect."

"I'm just saying."

Thunder rolled across the sky, and Bonnie looked up and thought about the sink this morning. "Um," she looked around. "You should know that I have Klaus' sword."

"When did you get that?"

"I didn't. A friend got it for me. I woke up this morning, and it was standing at the food of my bed, just like that, by itself. Then when I went downstairs it followed me."

"Well, that's definitely magical activity."

"Yeah, but nothing happened when I touched it. That's why I've invited a Hunter over so that he can touch it. Well, he's more like a budding Hunter."

"Doesn't matter, if the sword is supposed to react, then it'll react."

"Good," Bonnie sighed.

"Bonnie, I'm worried about you doing all of this _stuff_."

"I'll be fine." At least she had a couple of people helping her this time: her mom and Lucy, plus Tyler. "Back to the duodecad. So you think I tapped into some mojo?"

"It's like accidentally tapping into another phone line. You didn't just have a vision, you also had a psychic hit with that key word, which means there's some serious power behind whatever it is that's going to happen."

Bonnie closed her eyes. "And it's happening in Mystic Falls. So Pastor Young's death wasn't at all an accident. Is there any way whoever's at the other end of the phone line knows that I tapped in?"

"Not unless they were working within the power at that exact moment."

"Okay, well let's hope they weren't." She looked out of her window and saw Tyler running towards her car.

"I feel like Lucy and I should come to Mystic Falls," Abby said.

"Do I need to tell you why that's a bad idea?"

Abby sighed.

"Listen, I gotta go. I might go by the explosion site to see if I can get a better vision."

Abby closed her eyes. "Prioritize, Bonnie. You don't need to be involved in everything."

"Yeah. Gotta go."

She rolled down the window as Tyler got closer.

He bent down and said, "Hey."

"Hey."

"Listen: Stefan came by the school. He came to warn April that Klaus was looking for her, but then Klaus showed up. He questioned her about Rebekah. She told him that Rebekah only came to the school because something went wrong, and he pointed out how that didn't match what I told him about Rebekah trying to compel me and you saving me."

Bonnie leaned her head against the headrest and closed her eyes.

"Bonnie, I'm sorry."

She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"I know I'm asking for a lot."

"I knew what I was taking on. It's no pressure I haven't felt before."

"But I'm sorry about this morning-"

"Tyler, don't-"

"Bonnie-"

"_Don't_. Listen, I'm starting to think that maybe we should just stick to business until this whole thing blows over. After that we can talk about regular stuff, because apparently you can't go two days without snapping at me."

"I wasn't snapping," he insisted. "What I was saying this morning wasn't coming out right, but I wasn't trying to snap."

"I have to go."

"Bonnie, please." He switched tactics: "Okay, listen. I'm going to make the announcement to the other Hybrids that you're helping us out. I'd really like it if you stopped by and they got to meet you."

"When?"

"Tonight. Um, how about a restaurant in Whitmore?"

That wasn't the location Bonnie was expecting, but she agreed.

"Hey listen," she said. "I wanted to ask you something last night: have you ever met Shane?"

"You mean other than that day?"

"Yeah, like did you ever introduce yourself to him? Does he know your name?"

"Not that I know of. Why?"

"Because when I was leaving his apartment that day, he told me to thank you, and he said your whole name: Tyler Lockwood."

Tyler cocked his head as he thought. "I've never told him my name. But who could've?"

They thought of the same answer: Hayley.

"We need something more concrete than that," Bonnie said.

"I can find it," Tyler offered.

"I think it'd be easier if I found it," Bonnie said.

Tyler nodded.

"I have to go," she said again.

"Right," he said, and he straightened and backed away from the car.

Bonnie forced her eyes away from him and put the car in reverse.

A couple of rows away, Stefan watched Bonnie drive off.

* * *

He called Damon when he got in his car. "We might have a problem," he said when his brother answered.

"Other than the damn bathrooms overflowing?"

"What?"

"Nothing. What is it?"

"No Damon, what did you say?"

"I said I've called for a plumber, but none can come 'till tomorrow because a couple of the toilets and sinks in this town decided to lose their shit. Not literally, though."

"My bathroom overflowed this morning, too. I'm at the school, and one of the bathrooms flooded."

"This is all fascinating. What's up?"

"Uh, well I've been at the school all day. I wanted to talk to Bonnie about something, so I've been waiting for her, and I overheard her talking to Tyler. I think she's helping him kill Klaus."

"What? Since when? Since when do those two even know each other?"

"I don't know, but Caroline told me he's pretty much been confiding in Bonnie instead of her."

"Bonnie's not stupid. She's not gonna try to take Klaus out before we get the cure; she knows how important it is. What makes her even think she can take him this time?"

"I don't know," Stefan lied. Caroline had said that Bonnie wanted the White Oak dagger for Kol. Now he was considering the very real possibility that Bonnie hadn't told Caroline the truth.

"But don't do anything," Stefan said. "I'm going to talk to her first."

"Keep me updated."

* * *

April had debated ditching the rest of her classes after her encounter with Klaus and Stefan, but Stefan's reminder to Klaus that there were "people around" had stuck with her. She would be safer at school.

She was proud of herself for not being a paranoid basket case by now. All of these scary, powerful people wanted to talk to her. But none of them cared to talk about what she wanted to talk about.

But after getting choked by Klaus, she was done. She was calling it quits. She'd wait for Rebekah to wake up, and who knew if she'd still be in the mindset of helping her in eleven days.

She arrived at her house from the bus stop and saw a man in a nice three-piece navy suit sitting on the front steps. She just wanted to go inside and think about how much her life sucked.

"Hi," Shane greeted.

"Hi," she answered and hiked her backpack on her shoulder.

Shane stood and walked to her. He extended his hand and said, "You're April."

"And you're in front of my house," she answered without taking his hand.

"I was waiting for you," Shane replied. He put his hand down.

"Well, here I am."

"I heard your prayer yesterday, April. And I'm here to give you an answer."

April stared at him.

He smiled and said, "I'm Silas."

He let her absorb it.

"I gotta go," April said. She went around him and headed to the door.

"I took no offense to you falling asleep in the middle of the prayer," he said after her.

She stopped on the porch.

"As long as you finish it, which you did this morning." Truthfully, he hadn't heard her attempt last night. He'd been casting spell after spell to calm his rage, some of them giving praise to Nature, some to death, and some of them begging for the completion of his goal. He'd only heard her this morning.

April turned and asked, "How do you know that?"

"I told you."

"That you're Silas. Silas is dead. He's a God."

"You're right. Kind of. My body is dead. My spirit is very much alive. This body is a gift that my worshipers worked centuries to give me."

April chuckled. "So you're just...walking around. Hey, wait a second. I know you. You're the professor my dad used to work with, the one who gave the presentation at the high school."

"I also judged the Miss Mystic Falls pageant recently. You were the winner," he remembered now. "I awarded you the scholarship."

April didn't know what to say to a supposed God who'd judged a beauty pageant.

"Your father was my disciple, April, which I know you know." When she kept staring at him, he walked up to just before the first step and said, "See, that's the thing about faith. People swear they believe, and they do. They swear that their God speaks to them, that they _hear_ their God, but none of those same people would believe it if….Jesus Christ, let's say, walked up to them and said, 'Here I am.' I mean for one thing, most of them can't even get the Guy's looks right. But my point is, they wouldn't believe it because they all hold tight to this idea of how exactly they're supposed to meet their God. Your father….he didn't have that problem. I came to him, and he believed. As a matter of fact, he insisted that I didn't have to show him my power as proof, though I did, of course."

"I'm sorry," April said. "This is….I can't…."

"It's a lot."

"A lot? Wha-You don't know the day I've had. You don't know the week, the _months_ I've had."

"Learning about the supernatural can be taxing."

"How do you know that? How do you know I'm learni-"

"Because I can access my followers' thoughts and memories."

"But I'm not a follower. My dad was; he was better than me; he prayed every night; I-"

"Only prayed last night. But you had it right: your father praying for you all those years-it's afforded you a good bit of protection from me. Just because you haven't set up a shrine and prayed to me all these years doesn't mean you don't believe. Praying isn't believing. It's just something extra, a very important part, but extra."

"I don't understand how you know what I said last night," April said. She put a hand to her forehead. Maybe she finally was cracking.

"I can bring your father back."

That got her attention. "How?"

"By raising him from the dead."

"Oh, well gee. Is that all?"

He smiled. "Someone's supposed to visit you in a bit. Two someones, actually."

April held her breath. She really wanted to go inside; she was overwhelmed.

"When they come, don't give them what they want."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't get anything out of it. You don't need them anymore. You have me. You wanted one better. I can give you everything. I can bring your father back, and I can make pay whomever you choose. I've done it before."

"What's the catch?"

"When they come, and when they ask why you won't give….the cell phone," he picked up from her, "Tell them it's because you don't need them anymore. Tell them you have Silas now. Don't tell them I showed up here. Simply tell them that I spoke to you, and I said I'm going to answer your prayers and bring your father back to life. That's all I want. I know you don't believe me right now, April, but if you do what I say, you will see the power of my name. And whatever you do," he said as he took a step back, "Do not cross your threshold. You must stay in your house."

April blinked, and he was gone. She hurried down the steps to the spot where he'd stood, and she looked around. He was gone.

* * *

Bonnie pulled up to her house and saw Jeremy's car already parked. She'd been hoping to get a moment alone before they met. Between her mother constantly warning her off of doing too much, and Tyler's increasingly close calls with Klaus, _and _her feelings for him that were presently getting her nowhere, she was starting to feel weary.

She got out of her car and and was moving around to the passenger side to get her bag when Tyler's vintage Buick pulled up and parked behind her car and parallel to her house.

Tyler got out, and Bonnie walked up to him. "You followed me?"

"Yeah. I just wanted to….I wanted to be here."

"To supervise me?"

"I'm not supervising you. Look, I'm not here to fight. I just want to support you in what you're doing. I want to be here. That fight's been on my mind the whole day. I didn't want to just leave it like that."

"Fine. You can come watch."

She went back to her car to get her bag, and Tyler locked his car and followed. She was still pissed which meant he still felt off.

"Hey," Bonnie greeted Jeremy.

"Hey," Jeremy responded. He looked over her head at Tyler. He'd thought it was just going to be the two of them.

Bonnie saved her explanation for when they were inside. She walked in, locked the door behind them, and led them up to her room.

"Okay, you guys can sit on the bed. Unless you sat on the floor at any point today," she quickly added, "in which case you should pull up a chair."

Jeremy and Tyler sat in front of her on the end of the bed.

"Okay so, Tyler knows. Everything," she told Jeremy.

"I'm the one who got her the sword," Tyler said.

His admission made Bonnie pause on what she was going to say next. She looked at him, and he looked at her. She didn't want him sharing anything he didn't want to share. Jeremy didn't need to know how exactly she'd gotten the sword.

For his part, Tyler wanted to show her that she didn't have to hold in all of his information. He wanted to show her that he could relax and trust her to decide what she wanted to share.

"You stole the sword from Klaus?" Jeremy asked Tyler.

Tyler inhaled and tightened his mouth, and Bonnie took over, "That's not the important part. What's important," she said and reached her hand out.

The sword ripped its way out of the cloth and came to her hand. "Is this. And you touching it."

Jeremy immediately noticed the mark on the sword. He stood and walked to it.

Bonnie let the sword go and stepped aside to give him room, but, as soon as she took her hands off of it, it crashed to the floor.

Bonnie jumped back so that it wouldn't land on her feet. "That didn't happen earlier," she said. "It's supposed to stand on its own when I let it go."

"Maybe Jeremy's cancelling it out," Tyler said.

Jeremy picked up the sword. It seemed to weigh nothing in his hand, and as soon as he touched the handle a white-gold light flashed where his hand made contact. He lifted the point of the sword to the ceiling, and they all watched the light spread down the blade to restore it to its original glory. The only mark of the sword's age now was the handle.

"Okay, that's definitely a reaction," Bonnie said.

"How do you feel?" Tyler asked Jeremy.

"Fine," he answered as he examined the sword. He felt a tingle in his hand and Bonnie's room abruptly disappeared. He stood on dirt and was surrounded by tall, skinny trees. It looked nothing like Mystic Falls' woods.

"Bonnie? Tyler?"

"What?" Tyler answered.

"Jeremy?" Bonnie tried.

He didn't hear them. It was windy and cold and thunder crashed overhead. Shivering, he saw a sliver of light in front of him and headed toward it. He heard voices the closer he got, and he slowed down. He could hear chanting. A woman. And a group of men repeating after her. Lightning flashed across the sky, and he was now standing just outside of the group. He felt something weighty in his hand, and he looked down to see that he still held the sword.

In front of him, the group held their own swords toward the sky. Lightning flashed again, and this time it streaked down to the five swords. As soon as it made contact, he was thrust from the forest and saw blood splatter on the blade of one sword, saw one sword get thrust into black sand, a third sword penetrated reddish-brown water, and the fourth lay with a medium-brown man, and the lid of a casket closed over both.

The vision ended, and he was back in Bonnie's room again. He put the end point of the sword down and shivered. He found it hard to swallow, his throat suddenly parched.

"Where did you go?" Bonnie asked.

"I think I had a vision."

"A _vision_?" Tyler clarified.

"I was in this forest; I don't know where. There was this woman chanting, casting a spell, I think, and she was surrounded by these guys. I think they were the original Five. Then lightning struck and I saw….I saw blood on one sword; I saw someone strike one in this black sand; I saw one fall into water; and I saw another one get buried." He looked at the one he held. "I only saw four."

"What does that mean?" Tyler wondered.

"It means we have one," Bonnie answered thoughtfully. "And there are four more."

* * *

April frantically bounced her left leg as she waited for Klaus and Stefan. She didn't have the television on, no radio, no iPod, nothing to distract her. She was so nervous that she'd already gone to the bathroom twice. Either she was going to give Klaus the cell phone and wait for him to help her, or she was going to listen to a man who was probably delusional and incur Klaus' wrath. If she chose the latter, then she would never leave her house again, because Klaus would surely kill her with one blow as soon as she crossed the threshold.

She didn't pray to Silas for guidance. She didn't need that man showing up right now.

Three neat knocks sounded on the door, and her stomach got hot. She closed her eyes and swallowed, and hoped to Go-Silas-that she was doing the right thing.

She stood and walked to the door, gripping the cell phone to her chest. She opened the door, and Klaus stood with his hands clasped behind his back, a smile on his face, and Stefan stood to his right.

"Ah," Klaus said. "A quick hand-off then. And you were worried," he said to Stefan.

"I wanted to get it over with," April said.

"All right, then." He held out his hand.

April hesitated.

"It's all right, April," Stefan said.

Klaus' smile slipped. "Let us have it now."

"I think I've changed my mind."

"You think," Klaus stated.

"I've changed my mind."

"April," Stefan said, "It's okay. Nothing will happen to you. He just wants the phone. I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

"There isn't anything in here that you'd want to see anyway," April said.

"I'll be the judge of that," Klaus said, all emotion gone from his voice.

"Well I don't need you anymore," April said. "So there's no reason for me to give it to you."

"April," Stefan warned. "Think about what you're doing."

"I know what I'm doing. I've found someone who can help me. He's answered my prayers."

"And who would that be, love?"

"The God, Silas."

Klaus narrowed his eyes and looked at Stefan who looked at him.

"He came to me. He's promised to raise my father from the dead, and he's promised to kill everyone who knew the truth and lied to me about it if I ask him too."

"I think you've lost it," Klaus said.

"I haven't. My God is real. And there's power in his name."

Just then, the accursed grey sky let loose with a series of enraged booms of thunder.

* * *

Bonnie clutched her head and screamed. She desperately squeezed her head as every boom that sounded in the sky felt like it was being pulled straight from her brain. Immense pain shaped itself into her skull, and she couldn't see anything, and she backed up and fell to the floor.

Tyler and Jeremy yelled her name and rushed to her side. She rutted on the floor and pulled her hair. White-hot agony held her brain hostage, and she felt like her head was going to split open. "Please," she begged as tears sprang to her tightly shut eyes.

"What the hell is going on?" Jeremy asked.

Tyler sat on the floor and pulled her into his lap, remembering when she'd almost collapsed outside of Shane's apartment. "I don't know," he answered Jeremy. She clung to his shirt, and he asked her, "What's happening?"

Thunder cracked and shook the window, and Tyler turned to look at it when Bonnie screamed in response. Panic seized him, and he forced away the hand still clutching her hair, and he replaced it with his. He had to be capable of doing _something_.

"You're gonna be okay," he assured her.

Bonnie pulled at his shirt as the assault continued on her brain.

"What the hell is causing that?" Jeremy asked.

Tyler willed anything to happen, _anything_. He pulled on what had helped him calm Adrian down and willed it in his hand. He pulled Bonnie's upper body closer to him and wrapped his legs around her. "Please. _Shit_."

Bonnie trembled from the pain and wished she could pass out from it. But then something cool and fresh swept across her brain. It felt like the first drops of rain. And just like that it was gone.

She pressed Tyler's hand harder against her head as thunder continued to assault the skies and her affliction returned. Tyler pulled on everything in him that wanted to stop whatever was happening. He gripped behind her skull and willed himself to transform. His eyes shifted, and he regained the power that had flitted through him seconds before. He infused her with his healing power and sheltered her brain under his protection.

* * *

Shane opened his eyes when he felt a foreign power come between him and Bonnie.

He stood on the grounds where the first twelve had died. He hated having to tap into this source for anything other than his ultimate spell, which was why he was using Bonnie as a buffer so that he wasn't pulling purely from the energy of the sacrifices. He was mostly using her power.

But now something was affecting his reach. He dug deeper into her and connected and sent a strike of lightening to touch down in front of April's house, but then he was pushed back again, stronger this time.

He wanted to dig in again, plow straight into her brain, but he was too agitated. He might permanently damage her, and that wasn't the state in which he wanted her to be. Besides, he'd made his point.

* * *

April had cowered more and more into her house as the world sounded like it was coming to an end outside. She'd dropped the phone to cover her ears, and she'd turned and fallen when the lightning strike had temporarily white-washed everything outside of the house.

The heatwave from the strike had thrown Klaus and Stefan against the house. It had also damaged their cornea and retina. They were blinded and weren't healing. Klaus had to call Kol to come retrieve him.

When April saw that they weren't getting up, she ran to the door and shut it on them.

Mystic Falls was quiet now, except for the car alarms.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: It's intentional that the pronouns for Silas and Jesus are not capitalized when Shane is talking.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Part 7: Forced Sabbatical: Tempting**

Bonnie passed out as soon as Tyler's shield took a permanent place over her brain. It was as if her conscious seized the opportunity to run and hide, lest the reprieve be short-lived.

Tyler's skin pricked when she slumped against him. An equally scared Jeremy put his hand on her torso and determined that she was still breathing. He suggested that they move her to the bed, but Tyler declined. He was afraid to move her for fear that everything would start back up again. His eyes were still mutated, and he kept her under his protection.

Time went by, and Jeremy kept an avid watch on Bonnie. Finally, Tyler told him that he could go home, that he would look after Bonnie.

Jeremy responded that he wasn't leaving until she woke up.

Twenty long minutes went by, and Tyler said that he didn't think Bonnie was going to wake up for the rest of the day. He didn't know that for sure, of course; he just wanted Jeremy to leave.

"Someone needs to explain this to her dad," Jeremy said.

"I can do that," Tyler returned.

Jeremy stared at him, and Tyler glared at him. Jeremy did not want to leave, but he was picking up that Tyler somehow felt like his was the voice that mattered where Bonnie's well-being was concerned. He had no idea where it was coming from or when it had started or if Bonnie knew, and he wondered just how much time they'd been spending together.

"Still. I'll be here," he said.

"You won't," Tyler returned, his voice hard. "If anything happens, I'll call you."

Jeremy saw the challenge in his eyes and cooly matched it. What the hell was Tyler planning to do if he didn't leave? He separated his lips and said, "Get her off the floor first."

Tyler flexed his cheeks, but he indulged him. He carefully removed himself from behind Bonnie. Jeremy had to pry her hand off his shirt, and she frowned in her sleep when she felt the loss of the cover on her brain.

"It's okay," Tyler soothed. He picked her up and carried her to the bed. He took off his shoes and jacket and climbed in with her and wrapped himself around her, and Jeremy saw that he was looking at a guy that cared for Bonnie as a whole lot more than a friend.

"Tell her to call me," Jeremy said.

Tyler looked at him and nodded. He kissed Bonnie's temple and rested his forehead against it.

Mouth stiff, Jeremy swallowed thickly and gathered his stuff and left.

* * *

"What the hell happened?" Kol asked when he had Klaus in the car.

Klaus was holding his hands against his eyes. They burned like hell. "I _don't_ know," he growled.

Kol looked in the rearview mirror and saw that Stefan wasn't faring any better in the backseat.

"You did something," Kol said. "How come everyone back at the house is fine and you're not? Any ideas Stefan?"

Stefan groaned. He felt like his eyeballs had melted.

"Lovely," Kol commented.

* * *

Tyler's phone buzzed and when he fished it out with one hand, he saw a text from Kim.

_What the hell is goin on?!_

_I don't know, but it affected Bonnie. U all okay?_

_Yeah, just sounded like the damn town was about 2 go under. Kol left. Dunno y or where._

_Okay. Keep me posted. _

_Is the meeting still on?_

_I don't think so._

He only left Bonnie when night came and he heard her father come home. He hid the sword back under the bed before he went downstairs.

"You all forgot to lock the door," Rudy said disapprovingly.

"Sorry," Tyler answered. "Uh, are you okay? I mean, you made it home okay?"

"Yeah, I was at work. All that commotion didn't reach Whitmore. Where's Bonnie? I texted her, and she didn't respond."

"Uh, she's upstairs. The commotion...I think there was something magical about it. She started screaming when it happened, and she didn't stop until….until I helped her."

"Where is she?" Rudy asked.

"Upstairs," Tyler said.

Rudy was already going up.

He got to her room and saw her ignorant to the world. He walked around and sat next to her. "What happened?"

"I have no idea," Tyler answered. "She's been asleep for four hours now." He decided not to tell Rudy about Bonnie having trouble with her head the day before yesterday. That was for her to tell him if she wanted.

"Bonnie," Rudy chastised and shook his head. He stroke her face and sighed. He knew that she would barely tell him what happened. So he asked Tyler.

"What have you two been doing?"

Tyler hesitated. "I don't think it's my place to tell you. Sir."

"I'm saying it is."

Tyler looked at Bonnie.

"I'm sure she'll tell you everything when she wakes up."

Rudy stood. "If I believed that, I wouldn't be asking you. You're telling me that my daugher is passed out from the lighting and thunder show that took place here earlier, but you won't tell me why. What spell was she casting?"

"That's the thing: she wasn't. I don't think this came from her."

"Then who?"

Tyler hesitated again.

"Okay, then. Thank you for staying with her, but I can take over from here."

"With all due respect, Sir, I prefer to stay. I'm the one who managed to calm her down, and when she wakes up the first thing she's gonna do is call me, and I'm gonna come right over. I'm worried about her, and I need...I need to make sure she's okay. Please."

Rudy relented. There was no need to take his issues with Bonnie out on this boy who was suddenly a fixture at his house.

Tyler sighed in relief when Rudy left him alone with Bonnie. He left the door open and climbed back on the bed and resumed covering her brain.

* * *

Bonnie slowly became aware that she was cocooned into someone's body. She opened her eyes, and they felt flat. A headache banged against her brain, and she flinched and moaned.

"You're okay."

She was held tighter. "Tyler?"

"Yeah. I'm here." Tyler looked down and waited for her to look up.

Bonnie blinked up at him and realized that it was okay to keep her eyes open. Nothing was going to happen. And aside from the little headache, there was a nice feeling in her head: cool and soothing. "What's happening?"

"I'm just holding you in case it happens again," he said with a small smile.

Bonnie put her face back against his chest. "Thank you," she murmurred.

She fell asleep again. Rudy came around at 10 O'clock.

"Are you planning on staying here?"

Tyler looked at Bonnie. He was sure that he was making a great impression on Rudy, wrapped around his daughter and all. "If that's okay," he answered.

"Not in that position you aren't."

Tyler disentangled himself. Bonnie reached for him, and he looked at Rudy. Rudy stared at him.

"I'll sleep on the couch," he said.

* * *

The next morning, Bonnie woke up alone. She opened her eyes and lifted her head and did a sweep across her room. The only signs of Tyler were his jacket, backpack, and keys. The sword was standing at the foot of her bed.

She sat up and removed the covers and saw that she'd slept in her clothes, though someone had taken her shoes off at one point. She searched for her phone, and when she found it she saw that she had two calls from her dad, dated yesterday, and four from her mom, dated this morning.

She called her back and Abby's response to her hello was, "Where have you been?! I've been trying to reach you!"

"There was a thunderstorm here yesterday," she responded groggily. "I kind of passed out."

"What? Bonnie, twelve witches died yesterday."

"What?"

"A coven of 12 witches, which….12 witches in a coven is completely unusual. But it looks like they sacrificed themselves."

"Where did this happen?"

"Right here in Eden. Bonnie….we're calling this off. The hunt for the cure, the sword, all of it. It's done."

"Why? Abby, why?" she asked again when the line stayed quiet.

"Lucy finally got something from the ouija board. We got a location for the cure."

"That's good," Bonnie said, suddenly very alert.

"And then she had a vision."

"About what? _Mom_."

"She saw you dead. And not just dead," Abby said, closing her eyes. "You were bloody, and your eyes were opened. We're not doing this. There is something bigger going on. Lucy and I are going to put our energy into figuring out what it is and stopping it. _You _will just stay put. I don't need that cure-"

"No-"

"_Bonnie. Listen_ to what I'm saying. I don't need the cure. I don't need you to take that risk. I had my time as a witch, and I had my time as a human. Bad things happen every day, and people learn to deal with them. I can deal with this. Especially if it means keeping you alive. This is over."

"Where's the location?"

"Why did you pass out yesterday?"

"_No reason_. Mom-" She felt herself tear up.

"Don't tell me. It's fine. But listen to what I said. You can't force this cure on me, and I don't want you looking for it for Elena either. Let them find it. You do whatever you have to to convince them you can't find it. Or I _will_ come into town with Lucy."

Bonnie hung up and dropped the phone on the bed. She pulled her knees up and buried her face.

The door opened and closed gently. When Bonnie looked up, Tyler was standing in her bedroom. "You were listening," she said, her eyes wet with tears.

"I heard you wake up."

She wiped her eyes. "I can't stop."

"Bonnie-"

"I won't, Tyler. She needs this."

"You need to slow down," he said and sat on the bed.

"I'm fine."

"I'm calling off the Klaus thing, too."

"If I give my mom that cure, she'll have no reason not to take it. And if I give you a way to weaken Klaus, there's no way you're not gonna use it, so," she shrugged and got off the bed.

"Bonnie, something serious happened to you yesterday," he said sternly.

"We'll figure it out."

"No," he protested and stood. "This isn't something you can just add to your list. This is something that you need to _slow down _and figure out."

"And after I do? Can I get back to business as usual?"

"Your mom said there's some serious mojo brewing. I don't think it's something you'll figure out in a day and then move past. Your _life_ is in danger. Or it will be if you don't do what your mom said."

"Tyler, my _instinct _is telling me to go for this."

"Your instinct? Or your stubbornness. You haven't even processed what she said. Did you _hear _her say your cousin saw you _dead_?"

Bonnie rolled her eyes and then cradled her head because her headache got a little bit stronger.

"We're calling everything off," Tyler continued. "The pack and I will handle Klaus without you. Just….please. Listen to your mom."

Bonnie covered her face and dissolved into tears. She was sick of them telling her to slow down, but that's only because she _had_ become very aware of how full her plate was with their constant reminders, and now some _thing_ or other had tried to stretch her head until it popped yesterday, and now she felt raw, out of the loop, and impotent.

"I don't wanna stop," she cried against Tyler's chest when he came to hold her.

"You have to," he said softly. "For your sake, for mine, for your dad, for your mom, and for your cousin. And for Jeremy. We don't want anything to happen to you."

He looked over at the sword. He wished he could get away with taking it with him.

He kissed her head and then her forehead. She asked to be left alone to shower, and he obliged. In the shower, she tried to manipulate the water. It was too cold, so she tried to make it hotter. Nothing happened. Curious, she tried to manipulate it into steam, and when that didn't work she tried to increase the pressure to force more water to come out. Nothing. She used her telekinesis to turn the handles that were in the bathroom, and that worked. She tried manipulating the water again. Nothing.

When she was done showering, she took out Emily's Grimoire and attempted a spell. Absolutely nothing. She tried another and got no result.

She thought back to yesterday and the moments during and after her pain. At one point she'd felt the power reach for her, but it didn't come through. Maybe someone had felt her tap into the phone line after all.

When she went downstairs, she bypassed Tyler in the living room and went to the kitchen. She smiled when Rudy turned from the stove, and she walked straight into his arms.

"What happened?" he asked as he swayed with her.

"I don't know. But there's something wrong with my powers. This pain just came out of nowhere. It felt like someone was reaching into my brain, and now I can't cast a spell, and some of my powers aren't working."

"Who did this?"

"I don't know. I swear."

"Do you think it'll happen again?"

She teared up at the thought, but kept the emotion out of her voice. "I really hope not."

Rudy told her to go have a seat, and she joined Tyler in the living room.

"You're not going to school today?" she asked after she took a seat at the opposite end of the couch.

Tyler gave her an unimpressed look, and she smiled.

"Well, you should at least go home. I'm sure your mom's wondering where you are."

"I called her last night and told her where I was, that I couldn't come home."

She moved closer to him, and he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her flush against his body. Bonnie's heart skipped, and her whole body warmed. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned her body on his. She looked up at him and quietly asked, "What was that thing you did yesterday?"

Tyler was looking down at her, and she was showered and fresh-faced and she looked rested as opposed to the screaming crisis she'd been yesterday, as opposed to the worried mess _he_ currently was, and he didn't want to talk about what he'd done. He angled his body toward her and leaned down and kissed her. He hugged her close with his arm and caressed her face, and he wished he could show her in detail just how glad he was that she was okay. In spite of everything that was happening, his body yearned for her.

And in spite of everything she'd just suffered, her body revved up in response to him. She didn't care that he tasted like yesterday, because this was another thing that had her feeling weary. Her attraction to him wasn't going away; she was in fact liking him more and more with every conversation, but her need for him still wasn't being met completely, and he still wasn't hers. She hadn't fully formulated in what capacity she wanted him to be hers, but she knew that that capacity hadn't been reached.

Tyler paused the kiss and said, "You scared the hell out of me."

"Sorry," Bonnie said, and she slowly licked up his lips. She opened her eyes and did it again. He was looking at her, and she did it again, and again, and he licked his lips on purpose the fifth time, and her tongue swiped against his, and he captured her lips.

Bonnie moaned, and it sounded extremely loud to their ears, so they sprang apart, Bonnie scooting all the way to the end of the couch, and they looked back at the kitchen. Rudy didn't come out to ask what the heck was going on.

Bonnie looked at him and pursed her lips and smiled, and Tyler shook his head and felt his penis lift. He looked over at her and her very exposed, very brown legs. Bonnie bit her bottom lip and crossed her legs for his benefit. Tyler trailed his eyes up to hers, and she smiled. He looked down her legs, and she kicked one sandal off and crossed her left leg over her right. Her manicure was old, done for the reopening of school, but she hoped he didn't care about that. She moved her foot, up, down, to the left, to the right, and Tyler pictured both of her feet enclosing his dick, and he wiped his face and shook his head. He looked up at her and smirked, and she smirked right back.

Rudy called them to breakfast, and on their way to the kitchen Tyler grabbed her by the waist and said quietly in her ear, "You're tempting."

Bonnie closed her eyes to keep her breathing steady. He continued past her to the kitchen and didn't look back, and he had some nerve, because they were going to sit down to eat what smelled like eggs, turkey sausage, and grits, and all she wanted to do was make her dad disappear, call Tyler back to the living room, pull down her shorts and underwear, bend over the arm of the couch and tell him to do whatever he wanted.

* * *

"It's nothing but witchcraft," Kol said.

Stefan had called Damon to come pick him up from Klaus' house. His eyes still weren't working and neither were Klaus'.

"Thunder don't come in succession like that and neither does lightning. And it was nonstop. And all over the town?" Kol pondered.

"What kind of witchcraft?" Damon asked.

"Powerful witchcraft," Kol answered.

Damon made an impatient noise. "What exactly happened at April's house?"

"_Nothing_," Klaus seethed.

"Okay," Damon said lightly. "I'll just take my brother on home where he _won't_ tell me the truth."

* * *

By 12, Bonnie and Rudy had teamed up to _insist_ that Tyler go home. He'd relented, and Bonnie had walked him out, her legs freezing, where he'd caressed her cheek and told her to promise him that she was going to leave the sword alone and at least take a week off. She'd updated him on her wonky powers and quickly made the promise when he looked like he was about to lecture her.

She did tell him that she needed to find the source of last night's trouble, and he'd offered his assistance. And before he left, he told her to call Jeremy.

Once she was done with that phone call, she received one from Damon.

"Did your witchy bat signal pick up on any juju yesterday?" was how he greeted her after she said hello.

Bonnie knew what he was referring to, but she still said, "What?"

Just because.

"Don't tell me you didn't notice the sky going crazy yesterday."

"I did, Damon." She weighed her options on what to say next.

"Well so did Stefan and Klaus, so much so that they're now blind."

"I'm sorry, _what_?"

"Their _eyeballs_ are all burned. Now Stefan said that Klaus went to visit April Young to get Rebekah's cell phone. He was doing his whole bleeding heart thing and went to supervise to make sure nothing bad happened to little April. That's when she shared the little _info _that Silas was helping her now; he'd answered her prayers, she said, and he's going to bring her father back from the dead. And suddenly the skies went crazy."

Bonnie tried to process all that she was getting.

"Now it took me a long time to remember where the hell I'd heard that name before, but you remember Silas, don't you? The one from professor Shady Pants' presentation _months_ ago?"

"Uh…._Yeah_."

"So I'm thinkin' about paying him a little visit."

"To ask about Silas? Damon….what are you gonna say to him, that Silas caused a thunderstorm?" She was playing it off, but she saw some merit in what he was saying. She just wanted him to stay away from it so that she could have room to handle the situation as she pleased. She decided against telling him what happened to her.

"My brother is sitting here with charred corneas, Bonnie. Even worse, _Klaus_, the indestructible, unhurtable Original Hybrid _can't heal_. I consider that something to look into. And that's why I called. I need to know if you can get over here and do some kind of healing juju."

"Uh Damon, I can't. The storm's got my powers on the fritz."

"What?"

"I was fine when it was happening yesterday, but I woke up this morning, and I can't cast a single spell." She needed to call Jeremy again and tell him to keep the part where she'd passed out a secret from Elena. Elena was still living in Damon's house, so she hoped that she and Jeremy hadn't spoken yet for today.

"Still don't think a visit to professor Shady is a good idea?"

"I do….And I want to come with you." Tyler and her father weren'tgoing to be happy that she was doing something other than staying home and resting. But it was just a recon trip.

* * *

Tyler had gotten home, showered, told his mother enough about Bonnie's condition to satisfy her, and gone to the abandoned barn, where he was finally holding his meeting.

The Hybrids, amid a lot of laughter and relief, all filled him in on Klaus' current condition.

"So _basically_," Kim concluded, "We've been bought who knows how many days with that cell phone. Klaus will definitely be putting all of his energy into A: trying to get his sight back, and B: finding out why he lost it in the first place."

"That's good," Tyler said.

"So why don't you look as happy as the rest of us?" she asked.

"Listen, if you ask me this is the perfect time to strike. _He can't see_," opined Alex, a twenty-eight-year-old who looked much older than his age and was perpetually hairless on his chest for the sake of his deep v-neck shirts. He was the oldest of the Hybrids, with Adrian being the second oldest at twenty-four.

"That would leave us with Kol, who would probably be the craziest Original if Klaus wasn't alive. The point was to kill Klaus and have none of his family members know until much later," Tyler said.

"Well, the point also was for Hayley to help us, and that didn't work out too well, did it?" Alex asked.

"No, it didn't," Tyler said with a sigh. "Which is one reason why I've been trying to call this meeting. We haven't gotten a chance to talk as a group since that happened. Kim thought quickly, and she and Adrian saved all of our asses. This is why we didn't kill Klaus the night of Festival. I changed my mind because I thought we needed to wait, _because_ something started to feel wrong about Hayley."

"You could've told us that part," Adrian said.

"I could've. I should've, but I didn't want to bring you an opinion. I didn't want to believe what I was feeling, and trusting it wasn't an option. Not until someone put things into perspective for me."

"So, what was her deal?" Alex asked.

"I'm not sure yet. And I don't know if selling us out was her plan all along or if she got scared or what. Her whole thing about knowing a witch was a lie, one she held on to till the very end. I still don't think it's a good idea to steal that phone, but I do have what could be a lead. There's a man named Shane. He's a professor at Whitmore College. He's been to Mystic Falls a couple of times, but the first time _I _ever saw him was at the Miss Mystic Falls pageant a couple of months ago. I saw Hayley talking to him, and when I asked her if she knew him, she said no. Cue a couple of days ago, and I run into the guy again, and he knows my first and last name. And he didn't get them from me. It's flimsy, but it's the only link to Hayley. I checked out the room she was using in my house, and there is absolutely nothing there aside from her clothes and duffel."

"So when are we paying him a visit?" Adrian asked.

The short ringtone reserved for Tyler's text messages played just then, and he fished out his phone. "Hold on, this might be important."

_Going 2 C Shane with Damon. Don't worry! Just 4 info about the storm._

A second text appeared.

_Meeting at a Starbucks, so not his house with the weird smells :)._

Tyler worked his mouth. Was the smiley face supposed to mask the fact that she was doing the opposite of taking it easy? She was on a mission to run him as ragged as she was running herself. "We're going to Shane's apartment now. Adrian and Kim?"

"Yeah," Kim said eagerly. "Klaus is too out of it to have assigned us anything, so."

"Good," he said. He texted Bonnie back.

_Okay._

* * *

Bonnie entered the coffee shop behind Damon. She'd switched out of her shorts for dark burgundy skinny jeans and after a discussion with her dad, she'd set out. He'd been lecturing her still when she'd slowly closed the front door, grimacing because she felt like she was being disrespectful.

She'd driven her Prius, having opted to meet Damon at the location rather than ride with him. She felt a little weak now that she was out of her house and moving about, and she hoped it didn't get any worse.

The shop was very very small, with limited parking. Bonnie figured that that's probably why it also had a drive-thru. But she wasn't surprised that Shane would choose a place like this. A tiny Starbucks fit him.

The man in question was sitting in the right corner of the shop, next to the counter. Bonnie sat across from him and Damon pulled a chair from another table.

"Would you guys like anything to drink or eat?"

"No thanks," Damon answered.

"I'm good," Bonnie responded. "You come to Starbucks and only get plain black coffee?"

"It's Starbucks plain black coffee, though," he answered with a smile. "I come here because it's quiet. I need all the quiet I can get to grasp just how much my students don't bother to pay attention during my lectures. Tell me your year will be better."

"Uh, if they're anything like me, they might be too busy to even come to class," she chuckled.

He laughed. Closing his laptop, he asked, "So what can I do for you both?"

"Well," Damon began. "I was going about my day when I suddenly remembered your riveting presentation on the witch Silas, and I thought I'd come learn some more about him."

Whenever Shane spoke, he made sure to make frequent eye contact with Bonnie so that she would feel that she is the one he is comfortable with, not Damon. "Uh well, what else would you like to know?"

"Why don't we start with a recap of what you said last time? Powerful witch…."

"Silas was a powerful witch who lived in the first century. The most notable thing about him is his tombstone, believed to be the world's first modern tombstone."

"Yeah, I'm not interested in the academia. Tell us about the hocus pocus."

"Well, he's believed to be the only immortal witch who didn't get to live out their immortality. Silas came up _with _a spell for immortality, but he didn't have enough power or, some would say, _skill_ to pull it off by himself. So he asked his equally powerful witch friend Qetsiyah to help him with it. And she did. Because she loved him. And then Silas asked her to cast the spell on the woman he loved. Qetsiyah was furious, and for that reason she buried him alive and stripped him of his powers."

"See, that's the part I'm interested in," Damon said. "His powers. Any ideas what they were?"

"Well, the basic witch powers today consist of control of one of the four, two of the four, three of the four, or four of the four classical elements: air, water, fire, and earth. It was the same back then. The difference is that magic was a lot more raw. A lot more bloody, the spells….scarier."

"What do you mean by bloody?" Bonnie asked.

"Human sacrifices. Societal rules were a lot more different in many parts of the world back then. It was the norm to use humans to power spells. They worked a lot better than animals. There's no doubt in my mind that one of the things involved in Silas' immortality spell was the taking of a life."

"What else can you tell us about Silas?" Damon asked.

"Why don't you tell me exactly what you're after, Damon?"

"Well, powerful witch, first century, people were a lot more superstitious back then. Witches hide today; did they have much reason to in the first century?"

"Um, yes and no. Depends on where they were. Remember, Silas lived in the first century. That's the same time as Jesus Christ, who was a real person. So here's this man walking around performing miracles, healing people, preaching, _gaining followers_. Then he's crucified and raises from the dead three days later. Witches are human, too. They fall prey to the same vices. There is no doubt in my mind that some of them either copied Jesus or said they were the second coming of Jesus."

"Well if that were true, then we'd have a lot more Jesuses today, wouldn't we? Instead we have one Jesus, and the rest are Moses, Mohammeds and on," Damon pointed out.

"That's true. Unless other witches banned together to take care of the problem, which I don't discount."

Bonnie remembered Lucy's account of the Spirits putting an end to certain witch lines.

"Do you discount the possibility that Silas could've tried to walk in Jesus' shoes? I mean the Guy was arrogant enough to want to grant Himself immortality."

"I don't know much about him aside from that story, and much can be supposed from those details. It's a goal of mine to visit his burial site, but I haven't been able to get the right things together."

"Where is His burial site?" Bonnie asked.

"Kapharnakos, how Silas would've said it in Greek. Qetsiyah would say _Kfar Nahum_." He butchered both pronunciations for Bonnie's sake. He's been dulling her psychic powers with the spirit incense, which he can't even be sure she's still inhaling. He had hoped to gain direct access to her thoughts and memories through hypnosis, but she had kept her distance from him after the first trial.

"He's buried in Capernaum," he said. "In Israel."

"What's a Greek Guy doing in Israel?"

"I don't think he was Greek, I think he just spoke it. He grew up in Rome, and Rome was all over Israel during that time, though Capernaum was never occupied. My guess is because of witches like Qetsiyah and Silas."

"So you're telling me this Guy lived in the same country as Jesus."

"Better. Jesus _taught_ in Capernaum at one point, though he eventually cursed the town because its residents didn't fall to their knees for him."

"So there was nothing stopping this Guy from declaring Himself a God."

"Wait, you're here because you think Silas is a god? What does that have to do with Hunters and vampires?"

"Shane," Bonnie said. "Did people worship Silas? Do they still do so today?"

"Um, yes to the second, which most likely means yes to the first. Witches, werewolves, and even some vampires worship Silas."

"Where?" Bonnie asked. "Any around here?"

"They're scattered and aren't that numerous. The sect I spoke to lives in New Orleans."

Bonnie sighed internally. She couldn't just drive to New Orleans.

"What are the chances they woke this Guy up, and He's just walking around somewhere?" Damon asked.

Shane smiled to show his disbelief. "I don't think Qetsiyah would've made it that easy. That kind of thing would probably take an immense amount of power. And probably some human sacrifices."

Bonnie needed to speak to him alone.

"Well last night a freaky thunderstorm took place in Mystic Falls, and it's left two vampires, one of them a very special _Original_ vampire, blind. And if I'm to believe this aggrieved teenage girl, your boy Silas did it as an answer to her prayers."

"Silas is buried six feet under without his powers. I have no idea how he could've done that."

Bonnie's phone rang out a text. She took it out of her small shoulder bag and checked the message.

_Checking out Shane's apartment. Keep him busy! :)_

Her eyes widened just a little bit. She'd _known _his "okay" was weird. She'd expected him to protest or disagree or sigh or something. This was why he hadn't. And he had the nerve to include a smiley face. He was blatantly mimicking her. Now she _had_ to speak to Shane.

She texted back _K_ and put the phone on silent.

Damon stood and said, "No biggie." He replaced the chair and said, "You were _very_ helpful, professor. I learned that Silas is indeed a God, because people pray to Him, and witches are part of that group, which has opened up a whole _world _of possibilities." He looked at Bonnie expectantly.

"Uh, I'm gonna stick around for a little bit."

"Have fun."

Bonnie watched him leave. She turned to Shane and took a deep breath and smiled.

"Abrasive guy," Shane said.

"Yeah, his manners could use a ton of work. How are you doing?"

"I'm doing good. Doing okay. I want to thank you again for getting me home that day. I hope things are okay now that that guy has his sister back."

"Yeah, he's stayed off our backs. It's just been a lot of mayhem lately. There was the storm yesterday, and its weird effect on the vampires, and before that….."

"What?"

"Well, you remember the guy I was with? The one who came with me to help you?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Well….his friend was killed a couple of days ago. A very close friend."

"That's terrible to hear. I hope he's dealing okay."

"He's kind of not. It took him by surprise. One of the vampires who was blinded, Klaus, Tyler kind of thinks he did it. He'd met Hayley once, and they didn't exactly hit it off."

Shane nodded slowly. "I'm really sorry to hear that. I hope Tyler will be okay."

* * *

Tyler congratulated himself on getting them to Shane's apartment complex without getting lost for too long. He'd driven them to Whitmore first and gone to the apartment from there since that was the only way he knew.

He'd parked down the street, and they were now arriving on foot at the complex. He took them to the correct building, and they climbed the stairs to the second floor.

"There's a locked room in there. I want to get inside it. But we're looking for everything: pictures, names, notes, anything." They arrived at the door. "And also: it smells very strong in there."

He hit the door with his shoulder and broke inside. Kim and Adrian quickly shuffled in behind him, and Adrian closed the door.

Kim's hand flew to her nose. "Holy shit."

"What the hell is that?" Adrian asked.

Tyler smiled. "Herbs and….other shit. Alright, let's go." He checked his phone. "Bonnie got my text. And if you happen to find a rock-looking thing, don't touch it but let me know. It's a tombstone."

"Is that something else we need to steal?" Adrian asked.

"Not today."

"Whatever happened to that sword?"

Tyler started searching the cabinets in the kitchen. "It's being worked on."

"By the witch who's gonna help us," Adrian said.

"Well, there's kind of a glitch with that. We might be on our own."

"Wait, that witch was going to be Bonnie, right?" Kim guessed. "Sucks there's a glitch, 'cause she's good. She came in real handy with Rebekah," she said to Adrian.

"She _helped_ with Rebekah," Tyler corrected. "She's not handy. Don't talk about her like that."

She shared a look with Adrian. "Is she why you smell different?"

Tyler turned from the cabinets. "What?"

"I'm just saying. There's a smell component with this pack Alpha thing. You know, your pheromones? You give off a smell to us, and between when you became an Alpha to now, it's changed. Would Bonnie smell the same way?"

"Uh, I have no idea what you're talking about," Tyler said.

"Well, I for one hadn't noticed," Adrian said. "But since we're on the subject," he took a whiff, "You do smell different."

"How can you smell me through all this crap?"

"You're pack leader, dude. If I concentrate, your smell trumps all."

"I thought you were dating that blonde vampire," Kim said curiously.

"You mean the one you kidnapped? You should at least remember her name: Caroline. And we're done talking about this, because we're actually here to do something."

"Well this pack thing can't be all work and breaking into people's houses. We're supposed to be a little family," Kim said. The Colombian accent that she'd picked up from her parents always peeked through to mix with her southern Virginia accent whenever she was joking or angry.

"So you're playing two girls?" Adrian asked. "I wouldn't have pegged you."

"You didn't know me before I became a Hybrid. And no I'm not. Can you please lift a cushion and look for something?" He turned back to the cabinets. He was finding a lot of teas he'd never heard of. Not that he was a tea drinker. Out of curiosity, he opened one of the boxes and took out a packet, just in case Shane was using the boxes as a cover.

* * *

"I have a lot of questions to ask you," Bonnie said. "I just don't know where to start."

"Well, I can ask you something while you decide," he said with a smile. "Are you okay? You look a little tired."

"Uh, yeah. I'm just not really feeling well. Do you think one of the reasons Qetsiyah buried Silas alive is because the immortality spell was the final straw? Maybe she got fed up with carrying him."

Shane blinked. He stretched his mouth into a smile. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Well, if it was skill that he lacked, that spell probably wasn't the first time his eyes were bigger than his stomach, so to speak. There were probably lots of spells before that one that Qetsiyah had to help him with. She probably finally got tired of doing all his work and getting absolutely no benefit."

He chuckled. "Uh. I doubt that. People tend to overlook Silas because Qetsiyah got the final say, but he was nothing to sneeze at. Legend does say he promised to wreak havoc on the world if he ever woke up."

"That's another possibility: maybe he was going around dreaming of havoc out loud after he became immortal. Maybe the story's been distorted over the years and _that's _the real reason Qetsiyah buried him. She saved the world."

Shane took a sip of his warm coffee. "You really like Qetsiyah."

"Well, you really like Silas."

"I can't help it. Most witches I've met are female. You don't hear of too many male witches."

"Well, it is a craft dominated by women. So, does Whitmore keep the Silas artifact on display?"

"Uh yes, in the museum."

That would make it a little hard for her to touch it. "Do you know who donated it?"

"I did."

She raised her brows. "You did. Wow, why did you do that?"

"Because it doesn't belong to me. It belongs to the world as a piece of history."

"So wait, how did you get Silas' tombstone if you've never been to his burial site?"

"I was married to a woman whose father was a very enthusiastic art collector. He'd acquired the tombstone, and he knew the history, and he knew how much I loved Silas, and so he gave it to me as a wedding present."

"Wow. Very nice."

It was actually the truth.

"So do you think it's a coincidence that the world's first modern tombstone came from the grave of a witch?"

He smiled. "Sometimes I wonder if the tombstone was involved in the stripping of his powers. That would mean I have something that Qetsiyah touched."

Bonnie didn't think that was anything to smile about. She now thought that that was very very possible. "That'd be pretty cool," she responded.

* * *

"Okay," Kim said as she came out of the master bedroom. "There's nothing in there. And his closet is weird."

"Why?" Tyler asked.

"There's nothing in there that sticks out. You know you have clothes in your closet that are clearly a mistake, or they're worn out, or they were obviously an impulse buy? Nothing in his closet sticks out. It's like he carefully picked out everything."

"I got dirty shoes in the bathroom" Adrian said. "Nothing else."

Tyler paused. "What are the chances that these very strong smells are masking something? When I was here with Bonnie, she was fine while in here, but she almost passed out as soon as we stepped outside. It was like the thing didn't kick into her system until she got out into the clean air."

"What could knock out a witch?" Kim asked.

"I don't know, but maybe there's some underlying smell, one that wasn't good for Bonnie."

"Maybe this room will tell us," Adrian said. He tried the lock and wasn't surprised to find it activated. He twisted the handle to break it. Nothing. So he rammed the door.

"Be careful," Tyler cautioned. "Remember what happened to me at the unit."

"Yeah," Adrian said and ran for the door again. And again. And again.

"_It's not working_," Kim said, his constant tries beginning to get on her nerves.

Tyler gave it one shot. "Nothing," he said.

"This is some freaking….fortified door," Adrian observed.

Tyler touched it. "How many doors in the world can withstand supernatural strength without so much as a dent?"

"None," Kim answered.

"Unless it _is_ fortified," Tyler murmurred. "Like with magic?"

"You're thinking he's a witch?" Adrian asked. "That makes whatever he had going on with Hailey, if he even had anything going on with Hayley, even more confusing. Unless he's the witch who was supposed to help us. She did say it was a he. Maybe she was telling the truth."

"About that part, maybe. But what, he told her to tell Klaus as part of his plan to help us?" Tyler questioned dubiously. "If he'd meant to help us, he wouldn't have acted like he didn't know me only to say my name in front of Bonnie. But if this guy is some kind of witch, then he needs to be kept away from Bonnie. Let's go."

* * *

Bonnie's phone alerted her to a text.

"Did you hear about those twelve people who died in Eden last night?" she asked Shane after she read Tyler's text about leaving the apartment.

"Uh, yeah. One of my students sent it to me this morning. He titled it Spontaneous Combustion."

Bonnie shook her head and forced a smile. "It's really gruesome, though. Twelve people died in Mystic Falls a couple of months ago, too."

"I'd heard about that one. Pastor Young, one of the victims, was a colleague."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"He'd come to me for guidance. His wife died two years ago, and he had weeks where it just….he couldn't bear it."

"You think it was a suicide? The report said a gas leak."

"No, I'm just commenting on the fact that he was a depressed man, and now he's…."

Bonnie nodded. She let the silence grow, during which time she felt progressively weaker. Then she said, "I think I should start on the road home."

"Yeah, sure." He got up as she did.

"Thank you for talking to us."

"Absolutely, no problem. With all of your questions, I look forward to having you in my class."

Bonnie smiled, and she raised her hand in a small wave goodbye, and she walked out of the cafe. The outside air felt crisp on her face, and the sun shined too bright. She sluggishly made her way to the car and set off.

She didn't get too far from the coffee shop before she was looking for somewhere to park. She made her way to a gas station and called Tyler.

"Hey," he answered.

"Hi. Have you left Whitmore yet?"

"No."

"Can you come pick me up? You can drive behind me, or we can leave my car. I just….I don't feel so good anymore, and I don't think I can make it by myself."

"Yeah. I'm with Kim and Adrian, so they can drive my car back. Where are you?"

They stayed on the phone until he pulled up two parking spaces away from her.

She got out of the car to meet him, and he cupped her face as soon as he reached her. "What's wrong? You're hot," he said.

"Yeah. I turned the A/C on, and it's barely helped. I feel weak and tired."

Adrian and Kim came up behind him, and he moved next to her and put his hand on the small of her back. "Uh, you guys were never formally introduced. You know Kim. This is Adrian."

Adrian nodded curtly.

"Oh, Adrian. The one who helped with the sword?"

Adrian nodded again.

"Thanks for that," Bonnie said with a small smile.

He smiled awkwardly.

"Alright, so you guys will follow us back to her place in my car," Tyler told them, and he handed Adrian the keys.

They nodded. When Tyler began to walk away with Bonnie, Kim smiled and called out, "Hey, Bonnie. You smell very nice." She turned her sweet smile onto Tyler.

"Thanks," Bonnie replied.

"Oh wow, yeah, you really do," Adrian added.

"Thanks," Bonnie said again, this time with a small frown. She folded her lips and turned to continue forward, but Tyler wasn't moving. He turned his attention to her at the same time that she looked up at him. He walked with her, but shot back, "Don't let Kim drive."

Kim laughed her way to the car, and Adrian grinned. When they got in, he said, "Did she look like she didn't like me just a little bit? It looked like she forced that smile."

"Well, you did kidnap her friend."

"_I_?"

"_We_."

"I feel like I should've said something else. Like when she asked if I was the one who helped get the sword, I should've said something like: hope it's coming in handy."

Kim stared at him with thin disgust. "I'm sure you did just fine, Adrian." She shook her head. "But geez, they smell strong."

"Werewolf bond," Adrian said playfully, and he started the car.

In Bonnie's car, Tyler pushed the driver's seat back to make his legs comfortable, and he adjusted the rearview mirror as well as the side mirrors. He didn't know what the hell Kim and Adrian smelled on him. Bonnie smelled great, but he hadn't realized that he gave off a smell, too. He knew werewolves gave off and picked up more pheromones than a regular person, thanks to Jules. So he knew that underneath Bonnie's light and nice-smelling body sprays, what he smelled more and more every time he inhaled her were her pheromones. He was positive that that was part of why her getting upset with him at the school had lingered in his mind. Her smell had slightly altered, and he'd picked up on it even though he hadn't been trying to smell her.

The phenomenon excited him because though he'd learned about it, he hadn't gotten to experience it with anyone other than his mother. She'd given off happy chemicals when he'd visited her at the hospital after he'd come back from Miami during sophomore year. After that, he'd died, and he hadn't smelled anything until the day he'd transitioned in front of her. Her alarm had shot through the roof. And that had been it. The rest of the time, he was with a vampire, who didn't produce biological chemicals (and that's how werewolves identified them), and Hybrids, who apparently fell under the same rule….except he'd picked up on Kim's panic at the school, and Kim said the others could smell him, so maybe being in a pack changed that.

_Anyways_. He knew that smelling more of Bonnie without even trying only meant his attraction to her was growing. He liked her a lot.

"What was that about?" Bonnie asked after she fastened her seatbelt.

"I don't know," he answered, and he backed out of the lot.

Bonnie gave him a look that said that she didn't completely buy that, and she turned on the A/C.

"So, what did you find out that was worth this trip?" he asked when they got on the road. He checked the rearview mirror and saw his Buick behind them.

She recapped Damon's portion of the visit and mentioned Silas' tombstone.

"Okay, that's a lot. You think it's a coincidence that Shane owned the tombstone?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. Something feels off about him owning it. And I really think there's something to his idea that the tombstone played a part in Qetsiyah's spell. And that wasn't the only thing: I told him about Hayley dying."

"What'd he say?"

"Shane's a very curious guy. Especially when he's talking to me. He either has a lot of questions for me, or he's basically letting me know everything he knows about the supernatural world, especially witches. And he always offers to help. None of that was there when I told him about Hayley. He just accepted it, no questions, no wondering. Didn't even ask what she was, actually. But I've set up something. I put it out there that Klaus killed her. If something happens to Klaus, we'll have our answer."

"Wait….okay, so are we now thinking this guy's magical? Because that actually fits with what I found in his apartment."

"What'd you find?"

"That locked door? I couldn't get in it. Adrian rammed it and rammed it; I tried. Nothing, not even a dent. I'm thinking magic."

"Shane: a witch." She tried to picture it. He was just so curious; it was hard. He gave off complete outsider vibes.

"Hey, when you get home, I wanna smell that spirit incense thing that you have. You still have some, right?"

"Uh yeah, I did some a couple of days ago."

"You what?"

"It's something that you smell, and it gives you a little high, and I was feeling a little stressed, so I inhaled," she said with a little guilty smile.

"Bonnie, have you considered that that might've had something to do with you falling that day?"

"No. I've done it plenty of times before, and I've never fallen."

He conceded her point. "Are you buying this whole Silas is a God thing?"

"Maybe. Shane's right that the Guy is buried and has no power. But Damon might be right that some witch followers are trying to channel Him or something. I mean what could get 12 witches to kill themselves? That sounds like a sacrifice to me, like they're trying to accomplish something. And where the _hell _did that storm come from?"

"And why did it target Stefan and Klaus?" Tyler asked.

"I want to visit the site of the explosion tomorrow. Pastor Young's. Visiting Eden might not be a bad idea either, but I don't want to run into my mom and Lucy."

"I hope you're joking."

"Uh, no?"

"Was I making things up, or did you say you feel weak and tired?"

"Well _now_. But I wanna go tomorrow," she said with a smile.

"You think this is funny."

"Well, last I heard I was _tempting_, so a nice personality must fit in there somewhere."

"Bonnie," he chided.

"Ty, what? Hello, I'd like to introduce you to me. I'm Bonnie Bennett, the only witch in Mystic Falls."

"That sounds like an excuse. You should be resting."

"Whatever caused that storm lowered my powers. I think that's worth investigating."

"Yes, but…" he stumbled. He put both hands on the wheel and squeezed it.

"What?"

"I feel like you're not taking this seriously at all. You're supposed to be resting, but you drove to Whitmore, and now you wanna visit a used to be crime scene. And yeah, it's important, but what isn't? Seriously, can you tell me one thing that isn't?"

"They're all important," Bonnie said.

"Right," Tyler nodded. "Which means you have no idea when to rest."

"I wish you'd stop worrying about me resting," Bonnie said and put her elbow on the window sill.

"_Worrying_? Bonn-Resting isn't even half of it. Again, I feel like I was listening to the wrong phone call. I mean, is this just the denial period before you accept what your mom said?"

Bonnie dropped the arm on the window sill onto her thigh. "What, that I'm gonna die?"

"You say that like you don't believe it."

She made a face, and he caught it in his peripheral. "Are you kidding? Are witch visions not reliable or something?"

"Tyler, I'm going to be fine. Stop _worrying_."

The moment the word left her mouth, deva ju hit her. Jeremy. How many times had he worried sick about her? And now Tyler was saying the same thing, wanting her to slow down, _worried_ about what might happen to her and what she was doing.

"Aren't _you_ worried?" he asked.

She smiled, because he sounded so confused. He didn't understand how she couldn't be. It was her life on the line.

She looked ahead and said, "Look….I haven't worried about dying since," she took a deep breath as she thought back, "my grams died. I was worried about not making it without her. And the first time I bled, which happens when a witch pushes themselves past their limits, I thought: oh my God. This is it. This is how I walk in my grams' shoes. I was scared. But then I got all that power, and then I went up against Klaus, and he was ready for me, and he was ready to kill me, and I got scared again. But I wanted to keep going.

And as I cast that spell to slow my heart down so that I was all but dead, I thought to myself: who does this? Who keeps going? Who casts such a scary, hurtful spell on themselves? Why was this spell in Emily's Grimoire, and why did I remember it so clearly?

That was how my life flashed before my eyes: just a whole bunch of questions. And I haven't worried since. Ever since that night I slowed down my heart, I've only worried about other people's lives. They're the ones who die. Jeremy died right away," she said with a chuckle. "Elena keeps losing people. Caroline's father died. Caroline lost _you_. People die around me, or they almost die around me, and….and what I do is either save them or try to save them. I'm always involved.

When my mom died,"

She absent-mindedly tightened her hands together ground them against each other.

Tyler glanced at her when she didn't continue. "Bonnie."

She shook her head, tears blurring her vision. "I can't die, Tyler. Not when I have to worry about everyone else, and try to keep everyone else together. I can't die when I have to be alive to feel…..pain. So please stop worrying."

They rode to Mystic Falls in silence. Tyler was disturbed, and his worry skyrocketed. He'd seen sadness in her before, at the festival, but he had no idea that the same girl who'd pitied him for being okay with spending an unknown number of years possessed in concrete had such a bleak regard for on her own life. She was supposed to be the one with hope in her future.

Bonnie sunk down, down, down into a funk. She felt lame and defunct. Tyler had expressed the same worry as Jeremy, pretty much parroted him. She didn't blame Tyler. She was the problem. It was how she lived, and she didn't know another way to do it, didn't want another way to do it. She couldn't just sit down, not with all of the powers she possessed, and everything _did _feel important.

So why was she wasting her time with Tyler? Flirting with him, cuddling with him, thinking about him, kissing him, teasing him? She had very important things to do. She could control her libido. Whatever problems he and Caroline had could be fixed. She didn't need to worm her way to him in the meantime as if…..as if she was built to do this.

She silently wiped her eyes for most of the trip back.

* * *

They pulled up to her house, and she got out as soon as he turned the car off.

He came around to her side and handed her the keys.

She took the keys and held her hands close to her body. "Thanks."

"No problem."

"Sorry that that turned into a navel-gazing soliloquy."

Tyler wished he didn't have to tell her that it was okay, but, "It's okay."

She nodded and was about to head for the house when he stopped her. "What time should I pick you up for the site visit tomorrow?"

She shook her head. "I-I-"

"Don't tell me not to come. And don't tell me you can do it alone. Fifty-fifty, remember? What time?"

She kept her face still and lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. "I'm not sure. I'll call you tomorrow."

Tyler caressed her cheek. "Get some rest."

Bonnie watched him walk to his car. She watched Adrian vacate the driver's seat so that he could take over, and she watched him drive off. She didn't need to argue with him. All she had to do was keep being herself: dive into every problem head first. And he will eventually get sick of it and leave.

Indulging her self-destructive mood, she went inside the house and straight to her room. She pulled the sword out and held it up with both hands. She closed her eyes and said, "Bring me the four swords. I command you."

She opened her eyes and hoped it worked.

* * *

Things were quiet in Tyler's car for most of the drive back to his house. Kim and Adrian had watched the semi face-off between Tyler and Bonnie, and his face as he'd gotten in the car had told them that things had taken a turn on the ride back with. But neither Beta planned to ask.

"So what's up with this smell thing?" Tyler asked. "I know we give off pheromones, and I know we can pick them up, but what's up with my smell changing and matching Bonnie?"

"Sometimes it's a two-way street, especially if you're connected on an emotional level. This kind of connection is more potent when it's werewolf-werewolf instead of werewolf-human, but werewolf-witch might be a powerful mix, too," Kim answered.

"It'll get worse," Adrian added. "Or not, depending on what happens between you guys."

"By worse, he means _stronger_," Kim clarified with a look directed at Adrian in the rearview mirror.

Adrian smiled at her from the backseat. "Right. And it's only binding if you guys make it so. If the commitment is strong, then the bond is strong. If one person strays, then the bond is weak. If you choose to become a creepy stalker, then your bond to her will be strong, but it won't have the same perks as a mutual commitment."

"When you say bond, do you mean like what we had with Klaus, or is it like what can happen between two vampires?"

"Definitely not like the vampire one," Adrian answered, "Although with you being half vampire, it might be. That's something you'd have to see."

"This whole thing is new territory," Kim cut in. "If you'd told me two years ago that a werewolf could be a vampire, I would've laughed in your face and called you crazy. But not only is it possible, but you're an Alpha. And I'm in a pack again. Well, one that's not my family. And it feels like I'm more werewolf than vampire now, and….it kind of feels good. I've kind of missed it. _You're _definitely more werewolf than vampire. Your werewolf side had to be more dominant for you to become an Alpha in the first place."

"I did actually spend more time trying to be a werewolf for most of the past year, even though I wasn't _trying _to be a werewolf," Tyler realized. "I hate Klaus with everything I'm worth, and I guess that's a rejection of my vampire side, not just my bond to him. More than anything, though, I think it was me turning so often. Can't help but connect to the wolf when something like that's happening. And I'm picking up on things, and they're coming in stronger than they did when I was a regular wolf. Like, I can read Bonnie's emotions from what her body's giving off."

"You guys keep it up, and your body will copy hers," Adrian said. "That's why it's more like our sire bond with Klaus, and I guess that whole thing is influenced by his werewolf side-"

"Holy shit, you know what I just realized? Sorry, Adrian," Kim apologized. "But okay, the term _sire bond_ got on my last nerve, because this whole time I've been thinking that we're werewolves. We're werewolves who were turned. Klaus is our leader, AKA, Alpha, and werewolves are not sired. We're bonded. Vampires are sired. _But _the way we're sired to Klaus _is _a mix of bonding and siring, though the asshole naturally uses the sire part more. We're bonded because we look out for his interest and care about what he wants even when he doesn't tell us to. But we're also sired because when he does tell us what he wants, we literally care about that above all else and we're _driven _to make what he wants happen, even without compulsion."

Tyler smiled at her realization. "I never realized that."

"Me neither," Adrian said.

Kim sat back, impressed with herself.

"I don't want a sire bond with Bonnie," Tyler said.

"You can't have one; you haven't turned her," Adrian said. "Then again, she's a witch, and that throws off everything I know. But if you have a werewolf bond with her, then whatever she's feeling will stay with you long after you've left her. What she's feeling will _reach_ you long before you reach her, and both of those are Alpha perks, but they're perks you only enjoy if she returns your connection. If she feels it strong enough that her skin's emitting strong signals, then your skin will pick it up. In the strongest cases, like where two Alphas get together, you can influence her anatomy and biology, like how her body functions."

"Are you serious?" Tyler asked, heavily intrigued.

"Oh yeah. They're called primer pheromones, and they're all about physiology. I mean, you can't like make her have to go to the bathroom, or make her need to go to the bathroom go away, but you can do stuff like make her palms get sweaty, make her skin dry, increase arousal…."

"One of my super great grandmothers back in Columbia was an Alpha, and she controlled how heavy or light her period flowed. True story."

"Thanks, Kim," Adrian said.

"Grow up."

"There was an Alpha in my family line like a thousand years ago. He was Native American. And he got so pissed off at the White people who had settled nearby that he made three of the young dudes in the village sterile," Tyler shared.

Kim and Adrian stared at him in shock.

"It's literally written on a wall, so it's true. I didn't believe it at first," Tyler commiserated, "But with what you guys are saying…."

"That's insane," Kim said.

"That's fucking…._mean_," Adrian said.

Tyler laughed. "But serious question: can I stop being an Alpha?"

"No," Kim answered. "Alpha status is forever. You don't even need a pack to be an Alpha. We're not literal animals: people move, and they do what they want. Lone werewolves can be Alphas, too."

"So you want to be bonded with Bonnie?" Adrian fished. Kim looked at Tyler and waited for the answer.

Tyler smiled. "It doesn't sound like a bad idea."


	8. Chapter 8

**Part 8: Forced Sabbatical: Birthday Wish Come Early**

Bonnie texted Tyler the next morning to tell him that her dad was leaving after 12. She pretended that she was more sick than she felt and opted out of going to church with her him to help set up for the guest choir groups they were hosting on Sunday morning. She called Tyler as soon as he left.

She looked up online news articles that covered the explosion and texted herself the address of the farmhouse. They followed her phone's GPS to the location.

"Know what you're looking for?" Tyler asked as he drove across the expanse of green grass.

"Anything," Bonnie answered.

"Are you going to talk to April to see if what she said about Silas holds any water?"

"I thought about it, but I think I have to wait and see if anything else happens. Because right now there isn't anything I can say to her."

"This place is in the middle of nowhere. If you wanted to die and not have anyone find you…."

"This is the perfect place," Bonnie murmured. "The official cause of the accident is just that: it was an accident caused by a gas leak. April thinks he was murdered. But no one's said anything about him choosing to die."

"I can talk to Sheriff Forbes," he volunteered.

"That'd be good. She'll probably lie to you, especially if it's Council business, but it's worth a try."

"I'd sneak in there and take a look at the file, but I have no clue where they keep it."

They finally pulled up to what was left of the house. They got out of the car and observed the damaged structure.

"It's extra quiet out here," Tyler observed. "Pastor Young prayed for me at my 12th birthday," he shared when they started toward the house.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I thought it was weird. There's nothing special about turning 12. He also christened me when I was a baby."

"That's cute. I went to his church like twice with Elena and her family. I liked it because it ended early. I didn't like it because it started early. And it's not as alive as my church."

Tyler smiled. He's been to her church maybe four times. It was part of his father's image as a community man. He had never sat with her, though he'd looked at her with a pained expression plenty of times which made her smile at times and at other times roll her eyes.

Bonnie walked up to the porch and used her telekinesis to take off the three logs of wood that criss-crossed in front of the door. She turned the handle, and they stepped inside. The front room looked fine, the living room not so much.

She heard a lock slide into place and stopped. She looked back at Tyler, who prompted her with his eyes. It didn't look like he had heard anything. She kept quiet and moved forward. And then she heard whispering. They didn't sound like the ones at the witches' house. These whispers questioned; they questioned everything.

"Bonnie, is something happening?" Tyler asked.

"_Seriously, Pastor, what's going on here?"_

She followed the voice and headed to the kitchen. When she pushed the door open, she was shoved out, and she flew back into Tyler.

"Get out!" a distorted voice boomed throughout the house.

"Holy shit," Tyler exclaimed when he saw the chalk-white ghost with a face that swirled into itself. "What the hell is that?" He got out from under Bonnie and ran to the kitchen.

"It's Pastor Young. Tyler, wait!" She got up and ran after him.

Tyler entered the sooty kitchen and saw nothing. Bonnie ran in and stopped in front of the stove when she heard a lighter flick open. She gasped and covered herself on Tyler's chest when the kitchen exploded, and the fire rushed to engulf her.

Tyler cradled her and asked, "What's wrong?" He held her at arm's length and asked, "What's happening?"

"There's a lot of energy here," she said, her voice high from shock. "The people who died: they didn't know they were going to die; they didn't know what was happening."

The stove suddenly detached from the wall and propelled forward. Tyler quickly grabbed Bonnie with one hand and spun her out of the way. He immediately picked her up and sped them out of the house. He stopped a couple of feet from the house and crouched to the ground with her in his arms. They both looked back at the house.

"I think he just tried to kill you," Tyler said.

Bonnie put a hand to her nose, and then she swatted her nose.

"What is it?"

"I'm smelling gasoline," she panicked.

Without a word, he picked her up and ran her further away from the house. He set her down on the grass and waited for her to say something.

"It's gone," she said.

"Think Pastor Young knew he was gonna die?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

Bonnie started to stand, and he helped her the rest of the way. "I think there's something in the house that he doesn't want us to see or know. Something about what happened."

She headed for the house and stopped when she reached Tyler's car. She turned to him and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Are you?"

"Fine."

"I didn't know I could see ghosts."

She smiled. "I didn't know you could either. Must be the wolf, maybe even the Hybrid. But Pastor Young doesn't look like any ghost I've ever seen. His face is a blob." She turned to the house and said, "Okay. So this was not an accident. I'd go back in, but I don't want to test my luck with that stove. But why is Pastor Young still here?"

"What do you mean?"

"When people die, their spirit moves on. They go to the OtherSide, which is like limbo, and from there they either find peace, or….well, I'm not sure what happens if they don't find peace. But they don't haunt houses." She adjusted her bra strap. "The witches in the house stay, but that's their choice. They can leave when they want. But it's also this thing about _how_ they died that keeps them coming back. There was so much pain."

"Like the confusion here?" Tyler asked. "Do you think the others are here, or is it just him?"

"I don't know. I can't sense them, just how they felt right before they died. They trusted him," she said as she looked at the house.

"So Pastor Young knew what was going on. He can't be confused; he planned the whole thing. So why is he still here?"

Bonnie thought on it. "Either he's waiting on something, or something went wrong and now he's stuck. Or maybe this is punishment for him taking those other lives. Maybe he didn't want to die alone. There are a lot of options."

"We can narrow them down by going to Eden, but considering what happened here, I don't know if visiting the site where 12 _witches_ died is a good idea."

Bonnie turned to him. "I think we can go now."

He nodded. "I didn't get a chance to smell that incense yesterday. Can I do it when we get back to your house?"

She crossed her arms. "What are you looking for?"

"I want to see if it's similar to anything from Shane's apartment."

"Okay."

When they got ready to leave, he opened the car door for her. He'd done it at the house, too. Bonnie casted the gesture out of her memory.

They drove back with the radio playing, Tyler's choice. He asked her if she wanted to choose something, and she said no. She kept her arms crossed the whole ride back.

When they got to her house, she took him straight to her room. She pulled out the last two sticks of incense as well as the red candle lighter she used.

"We should talk about yesterday," Tyler said.

"Uh, you're here to smell this incense."

"Before I do that, I want to talk about yesterday."

Bonnie pushed the button on the lighter and tried to get a flame to stay.

Tyler took them items out of her hands and put them on the bed.

"Tyler," she protested tiredly.

"I realize that if I don't bring it up, you won't."

"That's because there's nothing to bring up."

"The stuff you said yesterday-"

"Are none of your concern. It's not your business."

"Aren't we friends? Are we not friends? Tell me, and before you do I want you to really think about what you'd be saying."

Bonnie bit the inside of her cheek. She couldn't bring herself to say it. She couldn't bring herself to be that callous.

"That stuff you said yesterday: it was deep. And it's kind of weird to think it came from the same person who was telling me I should live my life."

"Yeah well," Bonnie said, staring at the red wood floor, "There's you, and then there's me. And _you _don't need to worry about me. _You _need to go back to what your life was, and I'm not talking about the supernatural stuff. You have a girlfriend who's waiting for you to show back up. Go back to Caroline, Tyler, and stop worrying about what's going to happen to me."

"Bonnie-"

"Tyler, you were ready to have Klaus possess your body and bury yourself in concrete! The last thing you need _anywhere _in your life is someone like me."

"So, what, I'm the hopeful case, and you're the lost cause?"

"I still haven't voted for the prom theme."

"...What?"

"I still….haven't….voted….for the prom theme."

"So? Neither have I."

"But I summoned the other four swords to me yesterday."

Tyler felt like someone just tripped him. "You're really not gonna take a break, are you?"

"I'm slowing down as much as I can, considering I don't have my full powers."

"Okay great," he said and put his hands in his jean pockets. "So, where are they?"

"They're not here yet, and I don't even know if they'll come, but I figure since that one keeps following me, I might as well just….call the other ones. And once I have them, if I get them, I can move forward with trying to find the cure."

Tyler nodded, and she smiled. "This is what I do, Tyler. This is what….I'm good at. Every time. I mean, my God, that senior assembly happened how long ago? It feels like two months. And I still haven't voted. But I've easily found time to drive _two hours_ to Whitmore to go question a professor one day after all the pain in the world exploded inside my head; I've summoned four dead Hunters' swords, and I even visited an explosion site today where a ghost tried to kill me with a stove. I wouldn't be surprised if they've already selected a theme and I just haven't heard."

"They haven't."

"Because no matter how many times I feel like being normal and paying attention to the high school stuff I always _assumed _I'd be paying attention to in my senior year, a million magical problems always show up. And it's always _so _much easier to take care of _them _than it is to hold on to the normal stuff. And we can't do this, Tyler. We can't both not vote for our prom theme. Caroline...she's good at this stuff. She manages it just fine. She's normal. She does it _so easy_. And that's what you need, from a friend and whatever else. Stop hanging out with me and coming with me to places and asking questions.

We're working together, but that doesn't mean you need to go with me everywhere. We deserve normal. And you've got someone who _excels_ at normal. Don'tyou have enough shit in your life? Because no matter how many times I wish for things to slow down, and no matter how often I picture normal in my head, I turn my back from it the _first_ chance I get. Because I can't balance it! I can'tprioritize! To me, prioritizing means: which magical problem can I fix first, and I never really do first, second, third, I do a little of each, all at the same time. I can't talk to you or do any of the stupid things we've been doing. And that's me, and it's a freaking lost cause, but I promise you there's more to come, because this is not the first time I've had this conversation, and it's not the first time I've gotten that look!"

"What look?" Tyler asked.

"The one you gave me yesterday in the car, the one where you were clearly wondering why I couldn't understand the danger and felt sorry for me."

"I did feel for sorry for you, but that's not a bad thing. Let me ask you a question, Bonnie. Those lives that you save or don't save, after you save or don't save them….what happens?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean….do you go to the funerals? Do you go to the celebrations? Do you _talk _to the people left behind?"

She thought back. "I went to the Klaus is desiccated celebration. And I went to John and Jenna's funerals. I went to Alaric's vigil. I put together this potion from my mom's Grimoire to try and keep the darkness out of him, but Esther had too strong a hold on him."

"How did all of those feel?"

She frowned and shook her head. "I have no idea what you're asking."

"I'm asking exactly what it sounds like I'm asking. Were you _happy_ at the celebration? Were you relieved that Klaus was desiccated? Cause I was _fucking_ relieved. Bastard's immobile? Starving forever? I was ready to toast all night."

"Toast to what, my _mother_ was dead-" she snapped, but she cut herself off.

"And Jenna's funeral?"

"I was sad for Jeremy. I kept thinking about where Klaus was and everything that I should've done better, that I should've listened to my instincts and gone through with _my_ plan, and….a lot was going on. Those moments….they're never mine, Tyler. Ever. I'm always just….there. Not even my mother's death could be mine."

She wearily walked to her bed and sat down. "The world didn't stop for that. A million things were still happening."

Tyler moved the incense and lighter up the bed and sat down next to her. "What was it like? When your mom died."

"It was the worst week….of my life. I just….I disappeared. At some point I just had to disappear, because I just couldn't handle….those million things. I was shocked; I….I just stopped existing. I felt like I was….nothing." She closed her eyes when she teared up. "I trusted these people. Not with anything important, like….but it was something basic. We're supposed to look out for each other. I thought it was implied." She wiped her eyes.

Tyler pulled her to him, but she resisted. "Please stop."

"Bonnie-"

"_No_, Tyler."

"_Why not?_"

"Because _why_? Doormat, remember?"

"Please stop going back to that," he begged. Long tears rolled down her face, and he felt his own tears spill just above his eyelashes.

"Why? Can you think of a better way to describe it? It's perfect. Because that's exactly what I was. Only _I_ would be wrong about something like the safety of my _life_. Only I would think safety's implied when I can't even think of a single reason right now why I thought that."

"Because _you _looked out for them. They always came to you. Of course it made sense for you to think it was mutual. The only reason you were wrong is because….they're fucking abominations."

Bonnie wiped her eyes, and she fixed her voice to say, "Stefan looked me in my _face,_ and I _saw _that he'd thought about killing me. And you know what I did after that? I went back. I went _back_. I even invited him into my house, and all he did was ask. I'm not who you think I am, Tyler."

"And who's that?"

"Someone with sense? Someone who _cares_ about their own life, someone who knows how to. I was….I was taken _apart_ that week, and it got worse the next one when Klaus kidnapped me, and then…..and then everyone found something happy to be about. Klaus was desiccated. And I stood there and I toasted, too, while on the inside….on the inside I was still looking at my mom's body on that floor, and I was still waiting for her to wake up, and I was still trying to figure out how I almost lost my life. You see me casting these spells, and you see me helping you, and you just assume that I'm…..but truthfully….

I'm not afraid of dying because that night, more than any other night,..." she shook her head, not knowing how to finish it.

Tyler wiped his eyes. "I think you're brave. I'm serious," he said when she rolled her eyes. "I think you're smart. I think you're hurt, because you haven't dealt with your mom's death and because the Salvatores, including Elena, are assholes."

"I've dealt with my mom's death. What I still don't get is….the reaction to it. You asked me what I felt when those people died. I felt like I was in the background. I tried hard to save them, but in the end I was in the background of their death. When my mom died, I still felt like I was in the background. Which makes no sense, because it's everyone else who should've felt like they were in the background, right? But no, when I got around them, they kept on living. They made toasts."

Tyler remembered that after Caroline had come back from spending the weekend with Bonnie and her mom, she'd said that Bonnie was doing as well as she could, and that was the last she'd brought it up.

"I think you've been around too many deaths, Bonnie. I think….I think that when they die, you don't get the condolence you deserve, and when they live, you don't get the congratulations you deserve. I think you do all the work and don't share in any of the rewards, good or bad."

Bonnie nodded and broke out in fresh tears. That was a feeling she hadn't been able to articulate. She didn't resist this time when he pulled her to his chest. She laid her head against his neck and said, "You have got to stop doing that."

"What?" he asked as he wrapped his other arm around her.

"Hugging me."

"Doesn't it feel good?"

She smiled and closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his torso.

Tyler sniffed. "I'm not like you, Bonnie. People don't flock to me. I don't have a whole lot of people that I care about, and I don't have a group that relies on me for answers. When I care about someone, I'm all in. I care about what happens to them; I care about what they want; I care about how they're feeling. I care about you. And I need that to matter to you. I need you to let that in and not get impatient with me or your mom or Lucy just because you don't think there's any reason for us to worry, and we disagree. Remember when you said you didn't want me buried alive because then you'd miss _me_? Well," he continued after she nodded. "If you can't connect to anything, connect to that. I feel the same way about you. At least you'd get to see me in a couple of years. At least I'd still be alive. If you die, I won't be able to see you anymore, and I really like seeing you."

Bonnie sniffed and straightened herself.

"I want you to look forward to something," Tyler continued. "Just like you asked me to. Look forward to anything. What do you want?"

"I want….to graduate and go to college," she said with a half-hearted shrug.

"That sounds really generic."

She sniffed. "I want….to cure my mom. I want to give her her life back. I want...to fix the past so that it stops sticking to me. I want her to be alive and a witch again so that what I felt that week and a half can just be a very bad experience and not something that changed my life forever. I want to get away with fixing something that happened to _me_." Her voice left her, and she cried.

Tyler took her close and stroke the bone behind the bottom of her ear. "I want that for you, too."

She stayed in her position until her eyes dried behind closed lids and he'd started laying soft kisses on her head. "They do feel good," she admitted. "Your hugs."

Tyler smiled on her head. "Good. Cause I like giving them to you. You know my girlfriend who's so good at being normal? Sometimes it's overwhelming. It's gotten more and more overwhelming, actually. Sometimes I do want to forget to vote for prom theme or shop for that dance, or…."

Bonnie straightened to look at him.

"In the beginning, I liked it because her happiness gave me hope. It was a reminder of something good in my life. But then the worse things got, the more I just did it for her, because she expected nothing different, not because I got anything out of it. Sometimes it was really hard to go be happy and surrounded by all those people. Like the bonfire party at the beginning of school? God, I just wanted to be home. I was still out of it from being possessed by Klaus. And the day I got shot at Pastor Young's memorial, she texted me to tell me that Stefan was putting together a vigil for everyone that we'd lost and she'd mention my uncle and my dad for me. I'm glad now that I was still laid up at the hospital, 'cause I'm pretty sure none of you actually gave a shit."

"Jeremy called me. I went," Bonnie shared glumly.

Tyler smiled. "I know what I want, Bonnie. And it's not to stop by the voting tables to choose a theme while you're off summoning 900-year-old swords. Although, we should go vote."

"We should," Bonnie agreed. "And we should go shopping for our 80s outfits."

"And I had no idea you could ramble like that," he said and swiped his thumb across her cheek.

Bonnie smiled. "I'm not saying I'm terrified of dying now, but….I promise to try what you said. I'm not used to a bunch of people telling me they're worried, and I think it got overwhelming. But I promise to be a little more sensitive to what you guys want."

"And I promise to give you your magical space," Tyler said. "I know you think you can do it, Bonnie. What I worry about is that you're not looking out for the instances when you can't. And that'll just lead to you getting hurt."

"I don't look out for those instances. I haven't for a long time. You don't know how pressing these things can get, how insistent Damon and Stefan can be."

"Well, I promise to keep my mouth shut when you're doing something I don't like right off the bat." When she looked lost, he elaborated, "At school, like two mornings ago? The Jeremy-sword thing?"

"Oh. _Yeah_. Think you can keep that promise?"

He smiled. "I think I can. I do trust you, Bonnie. And I do know you have a stake in this, too. I just hate anyone outside of us having even an idea of what's going on, and it scares me every time someone else gets too close. But that's no reason to take it out on you."

"It isn't." She smiled.

"You know, when Caroline called me that morning to tell me Hayley was dead, I didn't for a second think you were the one who told her. I mean she said it was Klaus who told her, but in that quick second before she did: I didn't think at all that it was you. I trust you."

Bonnie smiled. "She talked to me about it that morning after class. She asked me if I'd heard, told me she was helping you deal with it."

"Uh, hold on. That morning?"

"Yeah."

Tyler shook his head, finally understanding. "No wonder she got in my face at lunch. She was pissed at me for telling you before I told her."

Bonnie cringed. "Oh."

"She only told you because she was fishing, wanted to know why I wasn't going to her first."

"Oh." She put her hands between her thighs and adjusted her position on the bed. Relationship drama. "Why _aren't_ you going to her first? I'm sorry, but this feels bigger than her telling Stefan about your plan to kill Klaus. I know that was dangerous, but it just feels like….you've been mad at her a little too long."

"I'm not even mad at her anymore. Well, not unless it gets brought up. Because I feel like she still doesn't get the big deal. Do you know how Jeremy became a Hunter?"

"He killed a Hybrid."

"That's right. Someone that I knew. Someone that I was trying to save. And it's because Caroline brought Stefan to me because he needed help, and I….I gave him Chris. Chris got him what he needed. And once he had that….he served him up to Klaus, sold him out for doing the very thing that helped him get to Elena in the first place. It happened in my house. Chris was free, about to run." He twisted his lips at the memory.

"Klaus came and acted like he was going to let him go. As soon as he opened the door….Stefan stuck a stake in him. And Jeremy came in and beheaded him."

Bonnie stared at him, mouth agape.

"The next morning? Caroline showed up, and the first thing out of her mouth was: we didn't have a choice. Not, sorry. Not, are you doing okay? We didn't have a choice. Because _we_ were trying to save Elena, when, from where I was sitting, there hasn't been a _we_ since sophomore year. I told her Chris was my friend. And she was actually going to say that Chris wasn't a friend. It was almost out of her mouth; she would've said it if I hadn't interrupted her. That's what scares the hell out of me about her knowing. You're right, it's bigger than her telling Stefan about my plan. The last time she involved Stefan, one of my _friends_ died. Chris didn't even want to help at first. I convinced him." He closed his eyes.

Bonnie wrapped her arms around his arm and leaned into him. "I'm sorry. I called Jeremy after, and he told me he killed one of Klaus' Hybrids. He didn't mention where or that you were there."

"Why would he? Like I said, there hasn't been a _we_ in a long time. And even if he had told you I was there, it wouldn't have meant anything to you, not back then. I don't think he even knew what Chris meant to me. But Caroline and I are a _we_. We're supposed to be. And I don't trust her anymore. Everything about her reaction to Chris said….that she didn't get it. And she still doesn't get it, because she still thinks it's feasible for me to just wait to kill Klaus. After all the time she's spent with me dealing with this stuff….she doesn't get it. I convinced the others to go after Klaus. If we wait, and they lose their lives, it's on me. It'll be because of my idiot plan."

"It's not an idiot plan," Bonnie said, and she raised the back of her knuckles to stroke his cheek. It was weird to think about how right he was, that just a couple of months ago she could've been told that Tyler's friend had died and she would've said the appropriate words and moved on, not even talk to him about it. Now she hurt for him.

"I wanted to pummel Jeremy for what he'd done," Tyler confessed. "But then I realized that it wasn't him. It was Klaus, and Stefan, and Caroline. Klaus was….himself. Stefan _used_ Chris. And Caroline didn't get that she was supposed to give a shit. Klaus agreed to Chris' death for a cheap date with her. She wants to be trusted now, but I can't do that when she won't get the problem. She keeps bringing up the fact that she told Stefan, which just tells me she's long forgotten about Chris. I haven't."

Bonnie opened her arms and pulled him into a hug. He put his forehead on her shoulder and relaxed.

* * *

"Okay, so we're gonna make a surprise," Tyler declared after they made their way down to the kitchen. He hung his jacket on the back of one of the chairs that was around the breakfast table and headed for the fridge. "And we're calling it a surprise because we have no idea what we're gonna make."

Bonnie sat down at the table and propped her chin on her hand. He'd asked her if she was hungry, and she'd told him that she was starving. He was, too.

"You know how to cook?" she asked.

"Not a five-course meal, though I could probably do that with instructions. But my mom and I cook sometimes."

"Your mom knows how to cook?" she asked with a touch of disbelief.

"Yeah, but always late at night. I asked her why once, and she said it's because that's when she feels the most together. I'm talking late, like one in the morning. Can you cook?"

"Yeah. My dad taught me. He didn't want me to only eat frozen stuff while he was gone."

He smiled. "Okay, so I wanted to do that thing where you throw together whatever's left in your fridge, but yours is fully stocked."

"My dad's gonna go out of town. He wants to make sure I survive."

He smiled. "So you're gonna be home alone?" he asked from inside the safety of the fridge.

"Yeah. He's actually reluctant to go, because he knows I've been hiding a lot from him lately. It's actually nice to hear."

He popped up from the fridge. "I should promise him I'll look after you. He wanted to know what happened the day before yesterday, and I wouldn't tell him. He didn't like that one bit."

She smiled. "And also you've been here a whole lot. He's noticed. I should go to your house sometime, even though I know that's impossible because Klaus might show up. Or Caroline. But you're always at mine."

"You coming over sounds really nice," he said as he opened the lightweight carton of eggs to see how many were left. He looked up and found her smiling. She lowered her eyes.

"We still have the cave," she said.

"Oh, that's right," he said slowly, making it clear that he was only pretending to have forgotten. "So is that a yes, finally?"

Bonnie lifted her shoulders in a slow shrug.

Tyler shook his head and put the egg carton back. "Okay so, let's do….a fruity….pasta surprise."

"That sounds weird."

"We'll find out." He took out the container of diced pineapples and began to gather the ingredients on the small kitchen bar that connected to the living room.

Bonnie made no move to help. She didn't feel like he needed her to. She sat back and enjoyed the view of him working in her kitchen, his slender hands moving, the movement of the muscles in his neck as he concentrated, his ass every time he walked to the stove, his beautiful pelvis every time he walked to the bar, his lips when he licked it, his back every time he walked to the stove, his gorgeous dark brown eyes whenever he looked up at her and saw her watching him. She relaxed completely.

And the fruity pasta surprise was surprisingly delicious, though she had to add more salt to hers.

* * *

After lunch, they went back up to her room, and she lit the incense for him.

Bonnie put it under her nose and inhaled deeply. "It's very mild," she said. "Like, it never fills the room. You have to inhale it." She handed him the stick.

Tyler copied her and brought it his nose and inhaled. He quickly took it away and put his hand to his nose. He sniffed it again and reacted the same way.

"What is it?"

"It doesn't smell right."

Suddenly, he went blind, and his vampire fangs descended. He balked at the unexpected reaction. He tried to retract his fangs and found that he couldn't.

"What's wrong?" Bonnie asked when she saw him struggling.

"I can't change back." He continued to try and continued to fail.

Bonnie took the incense from him. "Is it an allergic reaction?"

"Allergic reaction? I'm a Hybrid."

"But it's magic," Bonnie said and then realized what she'd said. She knew that the incense was composed of a mélange of calmative herbs, but calling it magic now somehow felt….right. She looked at Tyler and registered his alarm. "What is it?"

"I don't think I'm a werewolf anymore."

"_What_?"

"It's something that I feel, and I can't feel it anymore." He tried to produce his canines and couldn't. "My eyes, what color are they?"

"Uh, they're red and bloodshot."

"They're supposed to be bloodshot red, gold, and black."

"Okay, _don't _panic. It's probably temporary, like my lost powers. It's probably subdued; I mean that's what this incense is supposed to do: calm you down and act like a sedative, so it's probably subdued your werewolf half because….That's the part of you that's alive."

Tyler considered the possibility. He absolutely did not want to be a full vampire. He's been feeling very very good since he became an Alpha. And while his lycanthropy had been a pain in the ass back when it was the only thing he was, he didn't want it completely erased from his make up for the same reason that he didn't want to take the cure. But he hadn't considered that there was a part of him that was alive. His heart hasn't beat normally since he died. But it made sense that he was somehow more alive now; he was more werewolf, like Adrian and Kim had deduced, and werewolves were the moon's children, like Hayley had once said. He needed to be more alive than undead to function at all as an Alpha.

He calmed himself down, and he and Bonnie sat on her bed and waited for this to prove itself temporary. He couldn't close his mouth completely because of his fangs, and his eyes were a veiny mess when he touched them.

"This is great," he complained. "This is such a good look."

Bonnie folded her lips to reign in her smile. "You're a pouting vampire. It's pretty adorable."

"You know I can't see when I'm like this? Vampires can't see when we're like this. It's just smell and sound; the smell of panic and fear coming off a warm body and the sound of a beating heart and the blood rushing. Our senses are at their strongest when we're vamped out. It's why we have the face out every time we fight. The blindness freaks me out, which is why I always bring both sets of teeth out."

"Caroline told me that once," Bonnie said.

"If this takes away my wolf, what does it do to you? It can't just calm you down; you're more alive than I am."

"I want to say that you're just having a reaction because it wasn't meant for you, but….that doesn't sound right. This isn't supposed to be magic, not unless it was made by a witch. And Shane did say he got the recipe from a witch, but….I don't know. My powers have been fine."

"I don't think you should take it anymore. Something really doesn't feel right to me about Shane's setup."

Bonnie nodded. She got up and put the incense on a green ceramic plate she'd been keeping for when she burned them, and she placed it on the toilet in the bathroom. What she wanted more than anything where Shane was concerned was to get her hands on that tombstone.

When she came out, Tyler was sitting with his hands between his thighs and looked like a kicked puppy. Or in this case: a kicked monster. She smiled sympathetically and reclaimed her seat next to him.

"I've never been this close to a vamped out face before. Can I touch it?" she asked when he looked at her.

He nodded, somehow nervous about her scrutinizing him.

Bonnie started with his eyes, her touch soft. The veins felt just like they looked: strong and just a little mushy because of the liquid underneath. She ran her fingers between every small groove. She trailed her fingers down his left cheek and made her way to his fangs. They were a nice white and sturdy. Tyler opened his mouth, and she touched one tip, and it wasn't extremely sharp like she expected.

Tyler kept his eyes on her riveted face, and for the first time he wondered if she would like being bitten. For the first time, he thought about biting her. As a Hybrid, he didn't have an _urge_ for blood, though nurture made him think of food whenever he saw it. But generally, he didn't _crave_ blood. He simply got hungry. But with Bonnie sitting this close to his exposed fans, he very much had a physical reaction to the thought of piercing her skin and drinking her blood. The sounds she would make.

"Can you smell me right now?" Bonnie asked quietly.

"Yes."

"How do I smell?"

"Really good," he answered and leaned his nose toward her to get more. "You smell warm and alive, and your heartbeat is strong. It just skipped. And it skipped again," he said with a smile.

Bonnie smiled back. She liked his vampire face. "Can you feel me smiling?"

"I can hear it in your voice. My sense of smell is miles better as a Hybrid. I pick up a whole lot more. This is just about survival and finding food."

His body warmed just then, and his fangs retracted, and his vision came back. And she was a lot closer to his face than she'd sounded.

"See? All clear," she said.

Tyler still made sure that everything was in working order. He protruded his canines. Then his fangs. Then his canines again, and he growled. He called his fangs while his canines were still out, and he growled louder.

The savage sound made Bonnie's heart jump. She squeezed her thighs together.

Tyler retracted everything.

"How do you see when you only have your canines out?"

"In red. It was grey before I became an Alpha. It's all about sight, heat, smells, and sounds."

Bonnie nodded. "It's nice. I like it. A lot."

Tyler licked his lips, pleased with the result of her scrutiny.

Bonnie stood and walked to the right to stand in front of her full body mirror. She cradled her neck in both hands and examined her face. She looked to the right in the mirror and saw him lower his eyes. He'd been looking at her.

She smiled and looked at herself again. He was in her bedroom, and it had been an emotional two days, and she'd just seen him cry because she was crying, and he'd cooked her lunch. And the afternoon stretched out in front of them still. It had been three o'clock when they'd left the kitchen, and her father was not supposed to come back until around five. She didn't feel like letting Tyler walk out.

"What would you do if I took all my clothes off right now?" she asked, her eyes still trained on her own face.

Tyler took a moment and then looked at her. "Whatever you want me to do."

She turned and locked eyes with him. She walked to stand in front of him. "Do you still want to have sex with me, Tyler?"

"Yes," he said, injecting a little too much force into the syllable.

Bonnie smiled and took off her boots and socks. She reached for the hem of her long-sleeved tunic and brought it over her head. Her pants went next, and her eyes stayed on Tyler for the trance-like attention he paid to every part of her she revealed. He'd probably forgotten she even had a face.

She put down the straps of her bra one at a time and slowly pulled down the cups, and she watched one of his legs twitch. She turned the bra around and undid the clasp and dropped it on her left. She bit the inside of the bottom of her lip as she got to the moment of truth. All of her frustration and fantasies and vaginal protests. She was ready to satiate them all.

She hooked her thumbs into the waistband of her panties and slipped them down. She leaned forward to delicately take them off one foot at a time.

"Tyler?" she called him.

He licked his lips and stole his gaze from her hair-spackled mound to look at her eyes.

"_Okay_."

Tyler reached her in three steps. He grabbed her pussy lips with one hand, and she gasped, and he cradled her head with the other and took her mouth.

Bonnie hooked her arms around his neck and pressed breasts against him. When he reached for her tongue, she gave it to him right away. He stroke her hair and tugged on her pussy lips. He stretched them out as far as they could go, and she had a lot to give. Her skinny build didn't go down to her labia. They were puffy and just a little wet. He rubbed them against each other, and Bonnie could've danced for finally having his hand right where she'd been aching for it for two months.

Tyler ended the kiss and walked to the bed, gently pulling her close behind him by her labia.

Forget whatever she wanted, Bonnie was officially ready to give him whatever _he_ wanted, any way he wanted, and for however long he wanted it, because that was the hottest thing that had ever happened to her. She stared at him ravenously when he turned and sat on the bed. He let her pussy go. He looked up at her, and he looked so serious, and she grinned, so very ready for what his eyes promised her. He pulled her forward by her thighs, and she lifted her right leg onto the bed, and Tyler really liked that she didn't hesitate. He took a hearty whiff of her pussy, and the intoxicating scent was committed to his memory. She had a strong smell, one that made his skin alert and set everything in him ablaze.

He licked her pussy, ate her out, dined on her cunt, and she was generous with her appreciation, sighing and uttering short, broken sounds, something he didn't expect. He held her ass tight when she started to hump his face, wanting her to keep going but not wanting her to throw off his connection to her pussy. Bonnie held his head and bounced on her one leg. She shook her thigh and bent her knee and did every maneuver on that one leg to help her withstand the growing pleasure. His tongue was wet and insistent on her pussy, and she held his head with both hands now, first playing in his hair, but pushing his head into her cunt by the time she came.

"_Shit, _oh my God," she whined as she orgasmed. She gasped and bent over his head when another wave hit her particularly hard.

After she shook for the last time, she put her hands on his shoulders and pushed away. She backed up and doubled over smiling. "Oh my God." It came out like a moan, and she put a hand between her legs and squeezed her labia together in the manner that he'd done before. "Wow."

Tyler smiled and licked her off his lips. Intoxicating. He sank to his knees and crawled on his hands to get to her. He kissed his way up from her left knee, and he kissed the V of her pelvis. He kissed her belly button, and then he lifted her left leg onto his shoulder.

Bonnie held fast to his head so that she didn't go falling back. She heard him breathe in, and she looked down in time to see him close his mouth around her cunt. She lifted her head and closed her eyes. She eventually had to stand on her toes, lest her thigh falls asleep on his shoulder.

She was a lot more vocal as he licked a second orgasm out of her clit, yeses and ooos and aaahs tumbling out of her mouth. She humped his mouth and curled her body toward him again when she came.

He kissed and licked her mound while she caught her breath. Bonnie swung her thigh off his shoulder, and he removed a stray pubic hair that had stolen its way into his mouth. He wiped his mouth and picked her up when he stood, and Bonnie smiled, excited. He deposited her on the bed and stripped. She gave him the same attention he'd given her. Her excitement gained traction when he took off his briefs and his meaty dick was freed. She slid to the edge of the bed and grabbed it by the shaft. Her hold was firm, like she handled his dick on the regular, and the confidence in her grip appealed to Tyler's ego as well as his territorial nature. He wanted her to be confident with him; he wanted her to touch him, hold him, grab him like he was hers. He wanted to be the one she thought of and turned to when she wanted to be satisfied.

Bonnie turned her touch soft and ran her fingers up and down his dick. She grabbed him again and decided that she loved the way he fit in her hand, loved the way his hardness felt. She liked it, so she put it in her mouth. She fixed herself so that both of her feet were on the floor, and she never took his dick out. Tyler subconsciously puffed out his chest and watched her polish his dome. She sucked him in bit by bit until she was comfortably bobbing up and down. She kept one hand on his dick and the other held his thigh for balance.

Her mouth was hot, her lips firm against his skin, her tongue pressed flat against him at times and at times it gave him small licks. He placed one hand on her head and the other on her arm, because he needed to touch her. He tucked her hair behind her ear and watched. He loved getting head, better if it was good head. There was just something about watching a girl dedicate a portion of her time on one, just one, part of him. And it was no different with Bonnie. He knew now how dedicated she was to the things she gave her time to, helping him, helping Shane, helping her mother, kissing, helping Kim, helping the others. She wore dedication like a second skin, and now that second skin was wetting his dick, and he started to moan from the deliciously constant stimulation.

Bonnie was licking her way up his tool when she heard a car door slam shut. Her heart froze in her chest.

"What?" Tyler asked with a frown.

"I heard something." She quickly got up and went to the window. She put a knee on the white wicker chair she kept in front of it and moved the sheer tan curtains an inch apart so that she could see the front of her house. She sighed in relief. "False alarm."

Tyler let out his laughter.

"What?" she asked as she got off the chair.

"Your face. Your tongue was out and your eyes got wide, and it was just….it was funny."

Bonnie narrowed her eyes and rejoined him. He lifted her and laid her in the bed again. He covered her with his body and kissed her until they both forgot the false alarm.

His stiff dick pressed against her thigh, and when he started to rutt against her, she planted her foot on the bed and flipped them so that she was on top. "I believe I was working on something," she said breathlessly.

"Please continue," he said as she backed up until her mouth was level with his dick. He fixed one of her pillows under his head, put one arm under his head, and settled in comfortably. She was more playful with his dick this time, kissing it, licking it, and sucking it. And then she broadened her horizon and began trying to fit him down her throat. She knew what she was doing, moving slow and forcing him in until she gagged. The feeling of his dick suddenly being pushed into the narrow space deep in her throat shook his composure. He was acutely aware of the tightness of her throat, and the way she took to trying to get herself to stop gagging, claiming his dick back into her mouth almost as soon as she'd taken it out, the _sound_ of her gagging, and the way she hunched over him every time her throat protested, all of it had him moaning needily and ready to come. His arm was gone from under his head, and both of his hands were suspended by his chest as he watched her slowly make it work.

He dropped his head on the pillow before lifting it to look when she took his head again. The squeeze felt amazing on the head of his penis. He was bowled over by the determination and enthusiasm she showed. He'd pictured her gradually building up to this; she would be excited but a little reserved. He definitely hadn't expected a blowjob, and he _definitely_ hadn't expected deepthroating.

His needy moans and the unsteady hand that tightened on her head every time she took him in encouraged Bonnie. She was determined to conquer her gag reflex as deepthroating was a skill that she has secretly always dreamed of possessing in her sexual arsenal. And conquer it she did. She took him in fast and moved her head from side to side, swishing him in her throat as much as she could. She slurped when she released him and gave him a big, crooked smile. She'd done it.

"Holy shit," Tyler exclaimed, and he reached for her and pulled her up for a kiss. "I want you on top. Get on top." He was very tempted to let her finish him off with her mouth, but who knew how long it would be before they had enough privacy to be like this again? He wanted to have been inside her before he left this house.

Bonnie's stomach fluttered, and she took his dick that was drenched with her saliva. She looked at him and rubbed her vulva with it. He licked his lips in anticipation, and she mimicked him, her mouth extra watery after having him in it. She couldn't wait until she could swallow him up again. But her vagina needed this.

She lined him up and began to sit down. She was so loose from her arousal, turned on from how he'd been reacting to her sucking his dick that she was able to slide a little more than half of him in with no problem. But she had to stop at that point, simply because of his girth, and it has been a year and two months since she took anything in her vagina. She hissed and sat back up. She licked her lips and tried again and stopped at the same place.

Tyler closed his eyes, his hands suspended as he waited. It felt fucking amazing.

"It's not going in," she said. She wanted to completely sit on his dick.

"Come here." He put one of his hands between them and inserted a finger into her cunt, then two. Bonnie moaned and her pussy flexed around his fingers. Tyler widened his fingers to stretch her out, and he did it over and over. Looking into her eyes, he put a third finger. She moaned and licked her lips as he slowly, slowly got them in, and he continued the blessed task of stretching her.

The fact that she was looking at his face and was on her hands and knees in the middle of the afternoon while he casually stretched her pussy made her chuckle. It was almost clinical, except for the part where both were turned on by the process.

"What?" he asked, though he smiled.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this."

"Oh, I think I know."

"Well, you don't know how _much _I've wanted it." She bit her lip when he started to pump his wide fingers in her.

"I think I have an idea about that, too. Do you know why I was on the track that morning?"

"Why?"

"Because of you. Because you've been driving me freaking crazy."

"Do you know how much I've masturbated because of you?"

He grinned wide. "Now there's something I'd like to see."

"I bet you would."

He stretched her, and when he took his fingers out, she felt a string of her lube follow them. She was so turned on. Tyler looked at the thick consistency on his fingers and the small bubbles that had formed. He laid his head down on the pillow. Closing his eyes, he stuck two fingers in his mouth. Afterwards, he sucked the third one clean. Bonnie watched, her mouth open, a moan ready to escape her. Tyler opened his eyes and licked between his fingers, and he looked at her.

"I'm so ready," she promised. She kept eye contact with him as she reached for his dick. He grabbed her hips, and she lined him up. She got the head pass her opening, and she sank down, down, and it was easier to go past the half mile point. She sensation she felt as as she was filling herself up with him was indescribable. Tyler licked his watering mouth as he watched her. She got to the hilt and no sooner had she sat on his pelvis than she had to get up. Her vagina was spasming as it adjusted to his girth, and it felt so good and so like too much that she had to take some of him out. Every time she sank down, the same feeling roused in her, so she ended up humping him up and down, sitting and lifting, unable to help her body's reaction.

It felt amazing on Tyler's suffering dick, and the delicate sound she made each time she sat and had to get up were music to his ears. When she lifted this time, however, he shoved his hips up just to get the reaction that he got.

"Oh shit," Bonnie cried out. He'd shoved into her so hard that she got thrown off balance, so when he immediately dropped his hips down to the bed to take most of his dick out, having lost her anchor on his chest, she fell straight down on his dick. "Oh _God_!" she cried as she shut her eyes tight, her body twitching in happiness. "_Jesus_, Tyler." He wore a shit-eating grin, and she planted both hands on his pecs and began to rock back and forth, her eyes still closed.

They both grimaced in bliss as she fucked him into her mattress, their quick breathing filling her room on the quiet Saturday afternoon.

Tyler held fast to her ass, his fingers digging in. Whenever he was able to form a thought, it was: she's so good at fucking. She took him through the full motion of her hips, back and forth, back and forth, sometimes all around, then back and forth, her stomach tight, core completely engaged.

Bonnie moved her hands from his chest to grip her sheets on either side of his neck. She needed more leverage, because she was getting closer, it was feeling better, and she was starting to ride him him faster. The hard pressure on her ass from his fingers were a delightful incentive for her orgasm, and she wondered if it was asking for too much that imprints of his fingers stayed behind after. Tyler turned his head on the pillow, the veins in his neck protruding. He moaned when he exhaled as if he'd been holding it in, and his eyes shifted. He looked up at her so that she could see.

Bonnie slowed down for less than a second, and then she continued with renewed fervor. She wanted to see what would happen when he came.

He lifted and captured her left breast in his hungry mouth, and the image of those animal eyes heading toward her so fast sent a quick wave of adrenaline through her, and she thrilled at it.

"Please, fuck me," he commanded against the globe of her breast, and it _was_ a command, and she stepped up her game, because clearly she wasn't doing enough, and she wanted to give him what he wanted, and she wanted to give herself what she'd been waiting for.

He let go of her breast and pushed his head back against the pillow. This was the first time he was having sex as an Alpha, and he was completely unprepared for how hard he came. Bonnie watched him fall apart and greedily drank in his yells. He lifted toward her as his body contracted. And then his eyes opened wide. "Bonnie-oh shit, Bonnie-I'm done."

She wasn't. She ignored him, not feeling any urgency from what he was saying. She'd just now _seen_ her peak. She was going to reach the top and jump off it. So she fucked him, and he begged her, because his dick was not softening, and it was fucking sensitive, and he's never been this sensitive before, and it was just a little bit, a little bit amazingly painful. He didn't want her to stop. Her dominance called forth his, and his face shifted completely, both of his teeth descending as the skin around his eyes sunk in.

"I'm coming ag_-_!" he shouted. His voice died when he orgasmed, his mouth opened wide, his toes curled severely.

"_Shit!_" he cursed when his body relaxed."_Bonnie. Please!_" He slapped her ass and threw his head back and growled up at the ceiling as she used her cunt to take all that she wanted from him.

Bonnie delighted in how much he couldn't handle her, delighted in the contrast between the strong display of his Alpha wolf and how weak and vulnerable he sounded when he spoke, in how beautifully he begged, and she thought about his wrung out dick, and he lifted his head toward her and growled up at her as his hands drove her ass faster, and she came, grinding her clit on his pelvis. She shut her eyes tight, "Shit! Shit! Yes!"

Her voice was pitched high, and the words came out like a melody, and she tightened onto herself, and her whole body shook, her breasts, her thighs, her abdomen, her arms. It felt so good that she wanted to cry at the end of it.

Tyler let her hump until she was finished, and he barely made it, but he rolled them over when she was done and took his dick out, and then he flopped on his side, his back to her and his knees drawn up to his chest. "Holy fuck. _Shit_." His breath came out as soft growls every time he exhaled.

Bonnie closed her eyes and felt like she was hyperventilating. "Oh my God. Holy crap. Shit. Shit."

Tyler moaned and straightened his legs.

"Finally," Bonnie said.

Tyler laughed. He'd had no idea that she could be so forward. "That was freaking…." He turned to face her. His legs were still trembling. "You're a freaking sadist."

"It didn't sound like you were complaining. I don't think you'll ever look hotter than you did then." She opened her eyes and turned her head to smile at him. His face was striking.

"Oh, you liked that, did you?"

"Very much." She closed her eyes and hummed.

"God," Tyler sighed, and he rolled onto his back.

"You can stop protesting now," Bonnie said, amusement in her voice.

"What?" Tyler asked as he looked at her.

"Not you." She opened her eyes in time to see his eyes shift back to brown and his face clear up.

Tyler pulled her to him, and she snuggled.

* * *

Tyler was on his third round of tracing her nipples with his middle finger. The areola of the left one was smooth, while the areola of the right one was bumpy. A light smile played on his lips the whole time.

"Did the surgery scar you had above your knee heal when you became a Hybrid?" Bonnie asked as she lazily traced the hand that was playing with her nipples.

"When I triggered the curse, actually. The first time I transitioned, that scar opened right up. It hurt like hell. Everything hurt like hell. When I came back later that night, well….I noticed the next day that it was healed."

"Mmmm."

"Weirdly, though, the chicken pox marks on my back are still here."

"Well, those aren't scars," she said. "They don't damage your skin, they just….decorate it."

He smiled. "I like these little freckles on your chest," he said.

"My nana, my paternal grandmother, called them beauty marks when I was younger."

And so they cuddled until Tyler had to get dressed and leave before Rudy returned home.


	9. Chapter 9

**15,851 words, not counting the title or these notes! 0_0 No wonder it took me the whole weekend to edit it! I didn't realize that this was the longest chapter of the fic so far until I uploaded it to FF.**

**Anyways, a present for those who went back to school today! And those, like me, who just plain had to go to work, lol.**

**Oh btw, KINK WARNING: BLOOD!PLAY for this chapter and the rest of the fic.**

* * *

**Part 9: Forced Sabbatical: Heat of the Moment**

On Monday, they voted for the prom theme, not together, but they voted.

On Monday, she wore a mini dress to school, with black stockings that reached just past her knees. She felt sexy; she felt in charge; she felt like a sadistic sex mistress. She liked the label Tyler had given her: sadistic. If being sadistic got her the type of reaction from him that she'd gotten on Saturday, then she would proudly take on the role.

On Monday, Elena questioned her about her lost powers in the hallway.

"Is there anything you can do to get them back?"

"I don't think so. I'm just in wait mode. How's Stefan?" she asked, because it was polite.

"Hanging in there. Waiting, just like you. Caroline's been over there almost every day trying to help. His eyes don't hurt him as much as they have the past couple of days. We all think that means he's on his way to healing."

After Elena left, Tyler came up to her.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, she just asked me how I was doing. Wait, were you listening?"

"No, I just saw you guys talking and you looked….restrained."

She smiled. "So you're checking up on me?"

"Yes," he smiled.

"I kind of think, considering my powers have been downgraded for four days now, that she really wanted to know if I was able to help Stefan yet."

Tyler grimaced, and the reaction made her smile. "Hey, so, let's eighty-six you talking to Sheriff Forbes," she said. "I'm pretty sure what happened in that house was more than she could ever give us."

"Okay." Before he left, he leaned toward her and said, "I like the dress."

So she wore another mini dress on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Tyler wanted her again. He'd wanted her as soon as he had gotten in his car to drive home before her father came back on Saturday, so by Tuesday, after seeing her in the second mini dress, he _really _wanted her. He thought about going to the track.

On Tuesday, Bonnie went shopping for her 80s outfit. She got her eyebrows waxed after school, and then she drove out of town to Grove Hill for the outfit.

"You're going to a dance?" Abby asked over the phone.

"You sound shocked," Bonnie said as she browsed.

"I am. I'm glad, though. This is exactly what you need to be doing."

"I need to find something sexy."

"For a school dance?" Lucy inserted. "Is there a someone?"

She smiled. "Yes."

"Wait, you found a boy? In the middle of all this?" Abby asked.

"She multitasks. It's part of the Bennett gifts. Who is he?" Lucy asked.

"Uh, just a guy," she said nonchalantly. They didn't need to know that while she was shopping with him in mind, he was going to be at the dance with his girlfriend.

"Does he know the secret?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, he does. This is the worst decade to try and be sexy. Everyone was interested in wearing baggy clothes and bold colors that clashed."

"Hey," Lucy protested. "Respect what came before you."

She smiled.

"Okay, so how about some inspirations?" Abby asked. "Let's see: there was Denise Huxtable-"

"I feel like every Black girl who goes will dress like either Denise Huxtable or Vanessa Huxtable," Bonnie said.

"If you wanna...show your goods," Abby said, "There's Sandra Clark. She always looked sexy."

"I want to show off my legs," Bonnie said.

"Lisa Turtle!" Lucy contributed. "She was an idol. She was my idol."

"I know who that is, but I've never watched a single episode of Saved by the Bell," Bonnie revealed.

"Wow," Lucy responded.

"Oh, what was that one girl's name from that show? A Different World," Abby said.

"Whitley Gilbert," Bonnie and Lucy answered.

She found a couple of passable pieces and carried herself to the dressing room. The problem was that she wasn't a fan of bold colors. She promised to send a picture of her choice and hung up with her mom and Lucy.

She had only chosen dresses, short ones: one that was a tiger animal print, one a shiny metallic green, and another that was black with colorful flowers and a not-too-cute bow on the side of her waist. After trying them all on, she came away liking the third option best. She took a picture and sent it to her mom and Lucy.

Lucy texted, _Nobody messes with Lethal Lisa! Very Lisa Turtle!_

Bonnie grinned. Abby texted, _I love it! You look beautiful! And I see the legs!_

On Wednesday, she rediscovered how many mini dresses she had and wore them for the rest of the week.

On Wednesday, she saw Tyler and Caroline in the courtyard, sharing what seemed to her a sincere moment of laughter. Still on her Tyler high from Saturday, she didn't feel any two ways about it.

At lunch, Jeremy came to talk to her. He asked how she was doing again, how she was feeling, if there've been any signs of her powers or of another occurrence. They ate lunch together. Unbeknownst to them, Tyler kept looking at Jeremy's profile from his table.

After school that day, Bonnie met Caroline in the classroom where the planning committee met and returned the White Oak stake.

"Did you do what you needed to?" Caroline asked after she stuffed it in her bag.

"I scraped enough White Oak off it in case I need to experiment. It was simple: I just used a kitchen knife. The thing is the stake looks no different, almost like it has an infinite amount of White Oak."

Caroline nodded. Bonnie stood to leave, and Caroline said, "Hey, I heard about your little power thing. I'm sorry."

Bonnie wasn't slow to catch the insult this time. _Little power thing. _She accepted her sympathy with a nod.

"When do you think they'll be back?" Caroline asked.

"I have no idea. I'm hoping soon, though."

"Did it hurt or anything?"

"No." When they both nodded for too long, Bonnie said, "I gotta go. Have fun at the meeting."

* * *

On Thursday after school, April finally saw Silas again.

She threw her backpack in front of her closet like she always did, and when she turned around he was standing in the same suit he wore last time, and he was staring at his shrine.

"Holy _shit_." She quickly covered her mouth. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't curse."

He looked at her and smiled. "It's all right."

"Where have you been? I've been praying to you. Not that you need to answer that."

So he didn't. He'd been biding his time, letting her sweat for wanting to see him again. That was how he treated the believers who didn't readily believe when he revealed himself to them.

Seeing that he was opting not to answer, April asked, "Did you really cause that storm?"

"I did," he said with a smile.

"They got very hurt, you know."

"Does that upset you?"

She hesitated. "No. None of them have talked to me this whole week."

"That won't stay the case. What I did to them is temporary. I'm not at my full strength, April. They will come for you."

"Wait...why aren't you at your full strength? I mean, what you did last Thursday was amazing."

"I'm not sure you're ready to hear it."

"Try me."

"A very long time ago, I lived. Much like another God you're familiar with, I did walk the earth. And much like him, I was betrayed: tricked and buried alive. Centuries passed and I starved; my stomach bloated; I defacated; I became malnourished; I hallucinated; my throat wore away; my eyesight faded; my teeth rotted. I rotted, April. For centuries that bled into centuries."

"Who….who tricked you?"

"A woman named Qetsiyah. She was a witch. Much like Bonnie."

"How can a witch have any power over you?"

"You'd be surprised by how dedicated they can be, how much the power goes to their heads. But long after I had forgotten who I was, where I was, _what_ I was, long after I had stopped feeling, because my body did fall asleep to the point of developing sores, I was rescued. And it took a very long time for me to even understand that I was no longer buried. I lay on my back for a full year, my spirit unable to process that I could move now."

"You never died," April said, captivated.

"I'm immortal. But my grave was spelled. Qetsiyah was a very powerful witch. But not all witches are lost. The group who rescued me: they were witches. And they worked over generations, mothers teaching daughters, fathers teaching sons, before they were able to at least rescue my soul. But they could do nothing more."

"Wait….is this not your body?"

He smiled. "No. My body is still trapped. This is simply a vessel that my followers procured for me. And it took me a very long time to channel my true self from within it, time that….many people can't even conceive. And I'm nowhere near my potential. And I won't be until I shatter Qetsiyah's spell and get my powers back."

"Where is your body?"

"A very small town in Israel. Do you understand revenge, April?"

"Yes."

"Do you understand anger?"

"Yes."

"Qetsiyah can still pay for what she did. You don't know how many of my followers, like you, like your father, have needed me over the centuries and I've been unable to help them because of what she did."

"Why did she do it?"

"You've seen evil. Your father died, and you have an instinct about what happened to him. How many people do you believe know there's more to the story? Tell me."

April inhaled. "There's the Sheriff, first of all. Elena, Caroline, Matt, Jeremy, even Bonnie. Stefan Salvatore. I feel like that whole group knows, all of them who talk to each other, they know _something_. At least eight people know, maybe even Rebekah."

"Rebekah promised to help you for a price," he divined. "She promised to help you, but only after she got what she wanted."

She nodded. "I didn't have a choice. I mean, I-she was the first person who acted like I wasn't making things up."

Shane stayed silent and lowered his eyes. If he spoke too much, it would sound like he was trying to convince her of something. If he maintained too much eye contact, it would look like he had second thoughts for her, a hidden agenda. He needed her to feel like this was a conversation, like she could lead as much as he could. He needed her to feel chosen.

The silence got to April, so she asked what was on her mind. "So….you said you could help my dad?"

"I can, absolutely."

"But you need your powers first."

"Your father was so….he was such a believer," he said, admiration padding his tone. "He really believed in everything I can do, in everything that I am. He gave his life for me. He martyred himself. All those people who died with him, they martyred themselves. And I intend to bring them back. There is a ritual I have to do. And I will pull on the energy of their belief, their life, their souls, to break Qetsiyah's spell." He smiled and said, "And then I will use my true powers to give them their lives back. Twelve people sacrificed themselves on Thursday. Twelve more will. And then I'll be ready. Every brave person who has helped me….they will get their lives back."

"What do you want me to do?" April asked with bated breath.

"All of the vampires are looking for a cure. When they find it, I need you to be there. I need you to go with them, and I need you to carry my tombstone. I can't go to my grave. Qetsyiah's spell blocks me."

He let the silence stretch, and he let her stay in her head. Then he said, "April….I think you should go see your father. I think you should….go to the house. Have you ever been?"

"No," she admitted.

"I have an incredible amount of respect for people who….trust their faith to guide them. And where I am concerned, they will have every reason to keep trusting."

April smiled.

"I want to show you something. And it'll be whenever you want. I don't have enough power to bring back humans, or even most animals. But I can bring back some. We need to keep it small. Like a roach?" he considered with a smile. "Maybe a tiny lizard."

April smiled.

"Kill it yourself. Then call me to bring it back. Good night, April."

He disappeared in front of her eyes. She walked forward and stood in the spot where he'd been standing. For the first time, she felt calm, like she was taking the steps she was supposed to be taking. She had been trying, so hard, and finally she was going to get somewhere.

Cross-legged on the floor of his altar room, Shane opened his eyes. She'd thought nothing of him being the reason for her father's death, and she hadn't balked at the mention of the sacrifices. She was less resistant than he'd thought. He supposed he had Bonnie's friends to thank for that.

She would have more questions for him after she visited the site of her father's death, and he'd be ready. More than anything, though, visiting the place where she'd lost her father would increase her willingness to help him. That was what he was counting on.

He was still mourning Hayley, and he instructed himself to be as calm with April as possible. He coached himself to smile. He couldn't lose patience with her just because she wasn't Hayley. He was so close. It would have been so much easier with Hayley. There had been no risk of her getting scared by what needed to be done. But he had to make do with April.

He needed her to spill Bonnie's blood.

* * *

It was Friday afternoon, and Tyler carried seven tinfoil-wrapped cardboards to the gym while Jeremy carried eight. Caroline had commissioned the art club to make something, anything, for the dance. They'd decided on quirky decorations. They'd cut the cardboards into triangles, rectangles, parallelograms, Tyler's personal contribution, all of different sizes.

They passed students taping red balloons on the lockers, and Tyler commented, "It's weird how many people still volunteer to decorate for these dances even though they go to crap faster and faster every year."

"They go to crap for us, but I'm guessing most everyone else has a great time," Jeremy responded.

They entered the gym and found Caroline supervising the mounting of one of the LED marquees.

"We've got deliveries," Tyler announced.

"Oh!" she exclaimed when she turned. "Oooh, silver. Perfect. Psychedelic."

"That was the 60s," Jeremy pointed out.

"It's _weird_," Caroline explained. "Which actually fits. Okay, well thank you, and, um, they just set up one of the refreshment tables, so you guys can set them on the side there."

"Actually, I'm here to help decorate," Tyler revealed.

Caroline widened her eyes dramatically, and he rolled his eyes and smiled. She happily turned to Jeremy and asked, "Are you staying, too?"

"Uh no, I'm meeting Matt in the woods for combat practice. I'm not coming to this thing."

She dramatically dropped her smile. "Well, thanks for doing what you could to participate."

Jeremy smiled, and he and Tyler went to deposit the cardboards.

"So, does this mean you're gonna join art club?" Tyler asked.

"Uh, maybe. I don't know. I did this because I saw the announcement and figured why not. I still like drawing. I still do it, but I don't know if I want to belong to a _club_ anymore."

"I'm in it because it helps me destress. It's good to hear people talk about it. Even if some of them suck at drawing."

Jeremy chuckled. "See, I kind of prefer to do it by myself now. I don't want to have to explain why I'm drawing what I'm drawing, especially since most of my drawings have gotten kind of….angry since I came back from Denver."

Tyler nodded. "Well, you have a whole 'nother year to change your mind."

"Yeah," Jeremy said quietly.

"What?" Tyler asked.

Jeremy swept his eyes over the gym to gather his thoughts. When Tyler saw him focus on something, he looked and saw that he'd found Bonnie. She was standing at two helium tanks and blowing up red balloons in the middle of the gym.

The boys looked at each a while when they resumed their attention, because each saw something in the other's carefully contained expression. Each wanted to fire off questions about the other's intentions toward Bonnie. Neither had ever struggled so hard to _not _share their opinions.

"I'm gonna go," Jeremy said.

"Hold on," Tyler said when he took the first step. He'd never seen the upside of keeping his questions to himself.

Jeremy stopped. It would've been a miracle if they'd actually left things unsaid.

Tyler glanced at where Caroline was. He crossed his arms and asked, "You still like Bonnie?"

Jeremy smiled. "Like?"

Tyler slowly nodded his head once. So it was more than like. "So, what, you're gonna try to get her back?"

"You say that like it's a ridiculous idea. Besides, she's, uh, she's not really at the right place for that right now."

"That's not what I asked."

"What I don't understand is why you're asking in the first place."

Tyler blinked.

Jeremy scraped his teeth over his bottom lip. "You're into her."

Tyler kept himself still.

Jeremy smiled. "That's real nice. Does Caroline know? You two are still together, aren't you? I mean I saw you look over there just now."

"Whatever it is you've got in mind for Bonnie? Don't do it. Just let it go."

"And I think you should clean up your shit before you try telling me something like that. It's what Bonnie wants that counts. Me and her have our history, and….it's not any of your business. But if you're thinking about trying to make your own with her? _Clean_ your shit up."

Just then, Caroline walked up to them. "You're still here," she said to Jeremy.

Jeremy masked his irritation with Tyler and smiled. "Not because I changed my mind. I'm getting out of here. Your dude's waiting for you to tell him what to do."

With that, he backed away. Tyler flexed his defined cheekbones at the jab.

"Hey," Caroline said. She touched his arms to get his attention.

Tyler pushed his irritation back.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a chuckle. "Your arms are crossed in that way they are when you're upset. Did something happen?"

Tyler uncrossed his arms. "Uh, no, uh-"

He saw Jeremy turn from the exit and head to Bonnie.

He looked at Caroline and said, "We haven't really talked since….since he killed Chris, so my mind kind of went back to that just now."

"That wasn't-"

"Yeah, I know. It wasn't his fault. He was just doing what he had to for his sister."

"Why don't we switch gears? He's gone now. Um…." She consulted her clipboard, and Tyler stole a glance at Jeremy and Bonnie. "You can help the guys set up the lights on the walls."

"Cool, okay."

* * *

Bonnie blew up her fifteenth balloon. Seventy-five more to go. She wasn't sure why the planning committee had chosen a random number like ninety, but there it was. She attempted to tie the balloon and not for the first time it flew out of her hand and deflated. She closed her eyes and breathed. Seventy-five more to go.

"Need some help?"

She opened her eyes and smiled at who she saw. Tyler. "I actually do. Grab a balloon. Grab three."

He shrugged off his backpack. "I will as soon as you show me how to use this."

So she showed him how to use the helium machine.

"There are two of these," he said as he took the balloon she handed him. "Where's your partner?"

"Uh, nowhere," Bonnie answered as she picked up the balloon that had flown away. She started to blow it and said, "I'm doing this by myself. Ninety balloons. I'm pretty sure it's a punishment from Caroline."

"Why?" Tyler asked.

"Oh I don't know, for knowing more about her boyfriend than she does?"

Tyler closed his eyes. Of course. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I mean considering what I did with you on Saturday, I pretty much deserve it."

"Wait….do you regret it now?"

"No, of course not." She squeezed her eyes shut, mortified by how quickly she'd answered.

Tyler smiled and focused on his balloon.

"I shouldn't have said that. That is _not _a good thing to say. But it's true," she admitted. "I told you: I've been wanting it."

Tyler shouldn't still be smiling, especially when she was talking about the inappropriateness of what they'd done. But, "I don't regret it either."

He checked her out from the corner of his eyes while she filled her next balloon. "You're wearing a dress again."

She looked at him and smiled. "Yep."

This one was the shortest yet, and she realized now that it kind of looked like her 80s outfit, only prettier. And looser. It had a deep V neck that didn't quite expose her breasts. It was patterned with _small _dark red and dark blue flowers, unlike the huge many-colored flowers of her 80s dress. And it had long sleeves. Her hair was up in a sleek ponytail.

"I like them," he said as he blew up the next balloon. "A lot. You don't show a lot of leg."

"I didn't know you were monitoring."

"I wasn't. But if you'd made a habit of showing them, I would've definitely noticed."

She rolled her eyes and smiled.

"And this isn't me complaining about the way you dress," he assured her emphatically. "I mean your legs look mighty nice in the jeans, too. I'm just….saying."

"Jeans are easier. It doesn't matter if I shave," she explained with a shrug.

"Tyler," Caroline called as she approached.

"Yep," Tyler answered, and he looked at her over the machine.

"Uh, I thought you said you were going to help with the lights," she reminded him when she came to a stop in front of the machine.

"I was, but then I noticed Bonnie here."

"Well, I want you at the lights."

"Caroline, there's no one here to help her. And you know what she's going through because of the storm."

"She's de-powered, not crippled," Caroline observed. "And she didn't even lose all of her powers; she can blow up some balloons. Go to the lights, please."

"You know what?" Bonnie cut in, "I've got it. It's okay, Ty."

The shortening of his name made Caroline raise her brows.

Tyler looked at Bonnie, and it was clear to her that he wasn't happy about going. Still, he tied up the balloon he'd filled and then picked up his backpack. He took four steps and then turned back.

"You know what? I can stay here," he said to Caroline. "You want efficiency for this thing, right? One person blowing up and tying ninety balloons isn't efficient. She needs help."

Caroline was taken aback by the fact that he'd come back and was now adamant about staying. "Fine," she said. "I will get her help. But I need you at the lights. April!"

April almost swallowed her tongue.

"Are you kidding me?" Tyler asked. "You're giving her April, the freak who said her God caused the storm?"

"I'm pretty sure she can handle April," Caroline said. "Besides, the _freak_ showed her face to work here. That doesn't scream mastermind to me."

"Right," Tyler disagreed. He walked off to join the light crew.

After he left, Caroline looked at Bonnie and crossed her arms. "_Ty?_"

"Tyler," Bonnie responded. "I've called him Ty sometimes."

"Right."

"It's just balloons, Care," she said sympathetically.

"You called me?" April asked when she came up.

"You know, I'm surprised you're here decorating, considering," Caroline said to her.

"Well, you guys don't let all the bad stuff stop you from enjoying school," April responded.

"Hmm. Help Bonnie blow these up."

April grabbed a balloon from the bag on the chair. Bonnie observed her, and April couldn't hold eye contact, which seemed like typical April from what Bonnie had heard about her.

Caroline walked to where Elena was cutting open a bag full of plastic walkmans and haphazardly threw her clipboard on the table.

"Everything okay?" Elena asked.

"Yeah. Nothing I can't handle."

"Good. I'm glad to hear that. Because, you know, I'd hate to hear that your house is crumbling while you've been busy worrying about me and Damon and being a _strong_ shoulder for Stefan."

Elena picked up the bag and went off on her task of attaching the walkmans to the walls around the gym. Caroline stared after her, agog. The little vamp tramp had been eavesdropping! And that's what it was! She was surrounded by tramps! Bonnie with her _it's just balloons, Care_ and now Elena.

She only needed one problem at a time, so she couldn't wait to find the cure and throw it at Elena. Her callous attitude appeared at the most random times, and she was sick of her not caring enough to filter her opinions.

* * *

Tyler attached his third light fixture on the wall, and then he watched one of the girls turn them all on. "Perfect," he said.

They were moving to the next spot on the wall when he looked to where Bonnie was and saw her talking to April. He was keeping an eye on them, making sure Bonnie was all right. He pulled on his power and listened in.

"How are you doing?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm fine. Why?"

"Well, the news said that lightning struck your street during the storm."

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine. It happened right in front of my house. It was scary."

Bonnie nodded and tied her balloon. "I heard that you said that you know who caused it?"

"I said that my God answered my prayers, not that He caused the storm."

"Silas."

"Right. I've been lost. I've been so sad, and I just needed guidance."

Bonnie nodded and picked up another balloon. "What did he sound like?"

April paused for the slightest moment and blinked. Then she resumed filling the balloon. "What do you mean?"

"Silas. When He answered your prayers."

"What does your God sound like when you pray to Him?"

"Uh. Well, He doesn't usually talk back. I mean one of my grandmothers, well the only grandmother I have left, she swears she's touched by God, that He talks to her, but she's never said that He _literally_ talks to her. Just in dreams and signs."

"Well, that's what it was for me, too."

"And He promised to bring your father back."

"I feel like I'm getting the third degree," April said as she turned to her. "And it's been really nice not being questioned this whole week. That's why I even came here today. I thought all of that was behind me."

Bonnie pursed her lips. "Sorry." She filled another balloon. But she had to ask one more thing. Why was pastor Young still on earth?

"Do you really believe you're getting your dad back, April?"

April turned to her, her skin prickling, because despite what Silas had said, could it _really_ happen? Could she really get her dad back? "I want you to leave me alone, Bonnie," she said, her voice strained. "Please?"

Bonnie grimaced in sympathy. Her question was pretty callous on the surface, but she couldn't have phrased it any other way. "I'm sorry. Sorry."

April was agitated. She filled two more balloons and said, "I'm gonna ask Caroline to put me somewhere else. Sorry."

Bonnie watched her go. She didn't apologize again. Now that the moment had passed, she was wondering what April's answers meant.

Caroline sent someone else to help her, probably out of fear that Tyler would come back.

A sea of red balloons later, and they were done, all done. And Caroline brought over two bags of silver ones.

"For your guys' blowing pleasure," she said with a smile at the girl. The smile became just a little less genuine when she looked at Bonnie.

Bonnie watched her go until she got beyond her peripheral vision. "I'm going to the bathroom," she told the girl. "I'll be back."

She lifted the two new bags off the chair and grabbed her phone.

The bathroom closest to the gym, the one where they'd daggered Rebekah, was out of service. It had flooded this morning. She went to the double doors that led outside and walked a minute across the way to the auditorium.

She turned her phone over in her hand while she did her business in the stall, and her mind went to Caroline's two new bags. She wasn't a petty person, per say, though she could hold a grudge with the best of them. But she didn't do or say petty _things_. But thinking back on it now, she smiled proudly at her _it's just balloons_ comment.

Tyler had gotten on his knees and _crawled_ to get to her vulva; thrown her leg on his shoulder and held on to her ass as she'd trembled on his chin. Caroline could give her six more bags if she wanted to. She had ridden him until he had dissolved into a begging mess, and he had liked it, _and_ he had _told_ her to get on top, _and _he has been pivoting his neck to look at her dresses all week. Creepy professor _that_.

She finished, wiped and flushed, and stepped out of the stall. At the sink, she pulled up Tyler's name on her phone.

_You shouldn't come to the dance tonight, but you should meet me here at 9:45 ;)_

She hoped he understood what the wink meant. They haven't talked about sleeping together again, but everyone sign this week said that he was open to it, and _she_ was _definitely_ open to it. She wanted him again. These mini dresses worn to get his attention also fed her imagination. There was the constant image of him lifting her dress up and sliding into her.

In the gym, Tyler fished out his phone when he felt one side of his butt vibrate. He licked his lips and smiled when he read Bonnie's message. He wanted to hold her, especially after Jeremy's dissuading remarks. He didn't give a shit about Jeremy's history with Bonnie, but he didn't like his own intentions toward her being questioned. He wasn't going to ask Bonnie about her situation with Jeremy. He wasn't going to worry about anything unless things between him and Bonnie changed for the worst. And this text was evidence that he wouldn't have to worry any time soon.

He hoped that her wink meant what he thought it meant. He's supposed to be Caroline's date for the dance, but he wasn't going to turn Bonnie down after the crap from both Jeremy and Caroline.

_Absolutely ;) ;)._

Bonnie walked out of the bathroom, and she was so busy re-reading the text that she had sent and excitedly waiting for Tyler's response that she didn't pay attention to one of the auditorium's entrance doors opening and closing until she was slammed against the wall with a hand around her throat.

"Hello, Bonnie."

"Kol," she wheezed.

"Yes," he answered with a smile.

Panic flooded her as she remembered that she had limited means to save herself. She used the power she had to wrench his hand from around her throat, and she threw him into the adjacent wall. She paid no mind to her dropped phone and bolted for the doors.

Kol was in front of her in a heartbeat, and pain exploded on the left side of her cheek when he backhanded her hard enough to send her crashing to the floor. She clutched the left side of her face as tears sprang to her eyes, and she willed herself to think straight. She was full-on scared now. She remembered what he'd done to Shane.

"Not the first time I've been thrown by a witch, love. Plenty of opportunities to work on my recovery time." He crouched next to her and said, "It recently got back to me that you were affected by the storm, too. I want to know why."

"I lost some of my powers," she said and began trying to drag herself away. She yelped when he dragged her to her feet by her ponytail.

"Exactly. My brother and Stefan Salvatore were clearly being punished. You got most of your powers stripped. You and I are going to have a very short talk about Silas, _witch_."

"Like hell we are. TYLER!"

All of the balloons in the gym exploded at once, and startled screams and curses filled the gym. Everyone was thrown off guard except for Tyler. On the contrary, his senses sharpened to a needle point.

"What the hell was that?!" Caroline demanded no one in particular.

Tyler bolted from the room. Bonnie. He'd heard her in his mind, not his ears, but he was positive that it was her, and he was positive that she was in deep shit. Once he cleared the gym and the students in the hallway, who were moving towards the sudden ruckus, he broke into a high-speed run. He didn't care who he would pass. He wasn't going to slow down. Bonnie's scream kept repeating in his head, and he surrendered himself to it and let it guide him to where she was.

Kol glued his hand over Bonnie's mouth. She pulled on everything she had and filled his throat and ears with air, hoping she still had control over the one element that was tied to her telekinesis.

Kol let her go and clawed at his neck.

She knew better than to try for the door again, and she struggled to figure out what to do. Just then, Tyler burst through one of the doors and rammed Kol against the wall, teeth out and claws bared. She at first couldn't believe what she was seeing, that it wasn't all on her to get away from Kol anymore, that she had help, but then Elena ran up to her and shook her to get her attention.

"We need to get you out of here," Elena said.

"No," she said emphatically. She looked to Tyler and saw that Caroline had joined in the fight. She opened her left hand at her side and concentrated.

Free from Bonnie's power, Kol was fending off both Tyler and Caroline. He suffered bites from her and deep stinging scratches from him. He sent Tyler crashing into the drama trophy case and lunged for Caroline. Bonnie stepped away from Elena and reached for Kol. She got a grip on him before he got to Caroline and flattened him against the wall by where she stood, her other hand still calling.

Tyler ran for Kol and forced his arm against his throat and roared in his face, looking to crush his trachea.

"Tyler, it's okay," Bonnie said. "I've got him."

Tyler pushed against Kol's throat and let him go. He looked at Bonnie and asked, "Are you okay?" he asked around his mouth full of teeth. He sounded monstrous.

"I'm fine," she said, still keeping up the hand that was holding Kol. The left side of her face was beginning to throb. She walked to Kol and seethed. "Okay. Let's talk about Silas."

"Silas, the God?" Elena asked. "Is this what Klaus considers team work? Sending someone to attack us?"

Something in Tyler ticked severely. Kol hadn't attacked _us_; he'd attacked Bonnie.

"If you value your lives," Kol frothed, "You will stop looking for the cure."

"What the hell does the cure have to do with Silas?" Caroline asked.

"It's buried _with _him."

"How do you know this?" Elena asked.

"Witches talk. Especially the ones who worship him in Haiti, Benin, and New Orleans. If you wake him, you _will _bring about death and destruction."

"We have no intention of waking him," Caroline said. "We just want the cure."

"Silas is _immortal_. The cure is buried _with_ him. You cannot _get _to it without freeing him, too, and that is why I plan to cut _this _problem off at the root," he swore as he turned his attention to Bonnie.

Bonnie's other hand finally closed around something solid and heavy. "Thanks for the confirmation, Kol."

He charged for her as soon as she released him, and she grunted from deep in her belly as she lunged her arms forward while bending one knee and ran him through with her sword. Tyler and Elena quickly pulled her back by her dress as flames shot out of the Original vampire. The four seniors huddled against the opposite wall as a crazed Kol tried to wrench the sword from his belly button. It was no use, for the instrument was lodged. He screamed in agony and cursed his damnation as his organs burned. He ran for Bonnie, fully intent on taking her with him.

"Move!" Tyler yelled, and he dragged Bonnie to the right with him as Elena ran to the left and Caroline split with them on the right. Bonnie held on tight to his hand and made sure Caroline was still with them as he pulled open the door that led to the main room of the auditorium. She looked back and saw flames burst out of Kol's eyes. Her own eyes widened in horror.

"The stage!" Tyler yelled as they ran down the dark aisles. Elena was running down the aisle to their left.

Tyler slowed so that Bonnie was running faster than him and dragging him behind her a little bit, and it gave him enough room to run forward and scoop her up. Bonnie yelped and shut her eyes and hid her face against his right pectoral when she felt them speed up. When he was within distance, Tyler used his right foot to propel them off the floor, and he jumped on the stage. He sped them upstage, and they were joined by Caroline and Elena.

Kol could no longer run. His ability to process thought and put it into action was burnt away. The last things that went through his mind were confusion at how he was dying, frustration that he hadn't been able to kill Bonnie, and skeptical hope that Niklaus would open his eyes to the threat that Silas posed and succeed where he had failed.

The fourth Mikaelson exploded into nothing, and Bonnie, Tyler, Caroline, and Elena gasped and turned away from it. Tyler stepped behind Bonnie and shielded her with his body.

An empty silence filled the auditorium, and they turned to the empty seats. Kol's flaming body had provided the only light in the auditorium and now it stood in darkness again. The only thing that remained where Kol had exploded was the sword.

The four made made their way downstage, and Tyler grabbed Bonnie's hand. Bonnie squeezed him, comforted by the contact.

"He's gone," Elena commented numbly.

"Holy shit," Caroline said as she stared at the empty space. "Holy shit. Holy _shit_!"

"Caroline, it's okay," Bonnie said.

"_Okay?_ We just killed Klaus' brother. _You _just killed Klaus' brother! That's the end of everything ever being okay!"

"It was self-defense," Elena insisted.

"Oh right, of course, yeah, mmm-hmm. We'll just tell Klaus that; you know he's always the first to be rational. He's not gonna care!"

Bonnie let go of Tyler's hand and stepped forward a little to be able to see her on Tyler's other side. "Okay, you need to keep your voice down and _calm_ down."

"We're so dead," Caroline said and grabbed her head.

"He was coming after Bonnie," Tyler reminded her.

Bonnie jumped down from the stage and went to the sword. It was standing on its own, having pierced the carpet to plant itself in the floor. She walked around it and looked up at Tyler. She hoped he saw what she did.

"What is that thing?" Elena asked. "Where'd you get it? Is that Klaus' sword?"

Caroline's eyes bulged when Bonnie said nothing. "You _stole_ Klaus' sword?"

"Okay, no? I mean yes, but this isn't it. This is a different sword."

"Why would you _steal_ Klaus' sword?"

"_We _stole it," Tyler said. He looked at Bonnie and paused. Her cold disapproval of his admission didn't disturb him. Rather, it was the way her face looked. He couldn't see clearly in the dark, but something about her face was off.

"Have you two lost your _freaking _minds?" Caroline demanded.

"I needed it to work on finding the cure," Bonnie said.

"Bonnie, we're already working with Klaus; you should've just asked him for the sword," Elena said.

"Why would you steal?!" Caroline demanded.

"Okay, how about we work on what the hell we're gonna tell Klaus," Bonnie suggested.

"We could hide him," Elena suggested.

"That is so not gonna work," Tyler declared, and he began to pace behind Caroline and Elena. "Rebekah went missing for, what, a day two weeks ago? Kol can't go missing now. Klaus'll come directly to us, directly to Bonnie." He was scared as shit about Kol being dead, but the excitement that began with Bonnie calling for him was overpowering his fear. Adrenaline was making him restless. He didn't mind having this conversation, but he wanted to touch Bonnie, have her close, make sure she was okay. And the more he looked at her, the more he was sure that something was wrong, and the more agitated his pacing became.

"So we're dead," Caroline summarised. "I can't believe you stole from him."

"Well, it's gonna come in handy now; we're gonna need these swords to destroy Silas." Bonnie looked at Tyler, and her brows knitted slightly at how fast he was pacing and how often he looked at her.

"What are you talking about?" Caroline asked. "Please don't tell me you believe that crap."

"Of _course_ I believe it. Okay. Listen." She took a deep breath. There was no use in keeping this part a secret anymore, not now that they knew about the sword. "The day the storm happened, the _moment _the storm happened, I was attacked."

Tyler stopped pacing. Bonnie looked at him and then gave her attention to Elena and Caroline. The hairs on the back of Tyler's neck stood on end. He didn't want the girls to know this information, because Elena and Caroline knowing meant Damon and Stefan were going to find out, and he didn't trust any of them to react the right way. They didn't need to know.

"I would appreciate it if this information never left this room," Bonnie said, "But as soon as the storm happened, I was in pain. This _incredible_ pain that I have _never _felt before, and it was all coming from my head, and I felt like it was going to explode. Tyler saved me. And since _then_, I've been missing most of my powers. After what Kol just said, after what he just did, I think that Silas….was….channeling me. That's the only reason why my powers would be depleted. _Someone _was using it. And I think it was him."

The door close to the first row of seats opened, and the drama teacher walked in to make sure the auditorium was empty. "Hey, excuse me. Y'all-"

Caroline jumped down the stage, sped up to her, and grabbed her by her blouse. She dilated her pupils and commanded, "_Leave. _We're dealing with something _very _serious right now. Go do whatever you were going to do next."

The brunette, heavy-set, West Virginia transplant turned and left, her eyes glassy.

Carolinehuffed and plopped down in the nearest seat.

"Klaus told Stefan that the Five's mission was to destroy Silas," Elena said slowly.

"Exactly," Bonnie said. "Jeremy was there that day, too. I invited him over to touch the sword to see if it would react. He had a vision and saw the other four. This is one of them. We need the rest."

"How did you even know the sword would kill Kol?" Caroline asked.

"I didn't. I just wanted it to. My _life _was in danger, you guys. He wasn't going to stop, and this thing, the other one, follows me, so I figured it would be able to reach me out here and actually help me."

"How was Silas able to reach you?" Elena asked.

"That's what I'm gonna try to figure out now."

"Well, you might not need to after Klaus finds out about Kol," Caroline said.

"Caroline, can you give it a rest?" Tyler asked.

Caroline crossed her arms. They were so dead.

Elena's phone buzzed in her pocket, and she pulled it out. "It's Damon. Hello? What?" Her face visibly relaxed, and she smiled. She informed the others, "Stefan can see. Completely."

Bonnie closed her eyes, and Tyler crouched and dropped his head between his arms.

"That means Klaus can see, too," Bonnie pointed out, and Elena's smile disappeared. Caroline turned sideways and laid her forehead on the back of the chair. Dead.

"_Fuck_, man," Tyler exclaimed between his arms. "Are you fucking kidding me?" he asked Bonnie when he looked up. One step forward, five steps back.

"Give me the phone," Bonnie said to Elena. Now it _really_ was time for damage control.

"Damon," she said succinctly after Elena jumped down from the stage and handed her the phone.

"Hey."

"Kol's dead."

"...I'm sorry?"

"He's dead, poof, gone. He attacked me at school, and I killed him, and we need to figure out what we're going to tell Klaus, because I'm positive he's fully healed, too."

"Where are you?"

"In the auditorium."

"_Don't move_."

Bonnie hung up. Once again, her day had gone to hell in a handbasket. Now that things were calm, for the most part, she registered that the left side of her face was hurting worse than before. She touched the apple of her cheek, and the skin was tender.

"Is my face swollen?" she asked.

Tyler seized the opportunity to find out why her face looked weird. "Let me see," he said before Caroline or Elena could answer. He jumped down from the stage and went to her. He lifted a gentle hand to her face. "Yes."

Bonnie saw the warning of a storm on his face. "I'm fine. It'll be fine. It hurts, but it'll be fine." She stepped around him for good measure and took a seat in the third row on her left. Caroline and Elena were here: it wasn't time for a show.

By the time Damon came, Tyler was sitting on the stage and was pissed at the entire situation. Caroline remained in her seat, and Elena never sat. Bonnie stood up and went to the sword when Damon entered the auditorium.

"Stefan, what are you doing here?" Caroline asked. "You just healed."

"I've been inside for eight days. Damon told me what happened, and I insisted on coming."

"You didn't tell me you killed Kol with a whole posse," Damon said to Bonnie.

"Stefan, are you okay?" Elena asked.

"Can we table that for later? Does someone wanna tell me what that is?" Damon asked as he pointed to the object in question.

"That looks like Klaus' sword," Stefan said slowly as he walked to the weapon. He picked it up and quickly dropped it with a yelp.

"What happened?" Elena asked.

"It shocked me," he said as he used his other hand to hold the now numb one.

Bonnie picked up the sword and made it stand. "It's not Klaus' sword. None of them are his, but this isn't the one he had. This is different, although I do have Klaus' sword."

"She stole it," Caroline shared.

"I stole it for her," Tyler clarified.

"Wait a minute, one thing at a time. _Where _is Kol?" Damon asked.

Bonnie recounted the attack from beginning to end.

"You couldn't have just wounded him?" Damon asked.

"Sorry the fight or flight response doesn't come with considerations," Tyler said.

Damon's eyes twitched as he looked at him. "You two, the brain children. Stefan told me about your little partnership, but too much happened for me to confront you about it."

"Stealing the sword had nothing to do with that," Bonnie lied. "I did it to find the cure. For Elena."

"Why didn't we know about it?" Damon asked.

"Elena's been my best friend since I can remember. I don't need to wait for your direction on when to help her."

"Well, what a mess striking out on your own's turning out to be."

"Okay, so she made a mess. Shoe's on the other foot. _Help _her clean it up," Tyler snapped.

"I'm sorry, where are we on believing this Silas thing?" Stefan interrupted.

"One hundred percent," Bonnie reported.

"Are you serious?" Damon asked.

"You're doubting after what just happened to your brother?" Tyler asked. He didn't understand how Bonnie managed to deal with Damon on a regular basis.

"It's a _story_. Even if there's merit to some of it, it can't all be true. The guy's buried six feet under. How is he using his powers? I'm not up to speed on how immortality works in the witch community, but, unlike us, you're still human, which means you still need sleep, food, water, all those lovely accommodations. I considered it when the storm first happened, but common sense came back after that long, quiet drive back from Whitmore. It's why I took so long to even tell Klaus about it. Now, Silas has been buried for how long?"

"Almost two thousand years, according to Shane's presentation," Bonnie said.

"Right," Damon said. "And as if that wasn't enough, we now know exactly where the cure is, so now that Stefan's fine, and Klaus is fine, we can start buying plane tickets to Israel."

"I think Silas channeled me," Bonnie said. "I think that's why I can't access most of my powers."

"_Why_ would he channel you?" Damon asked obnoxiously. "Why would he even know about you? Pushing up daisies and can't process a thought, remember?"

"I don't know," Bonnie said to his first question. "But I visited the explosion site, the one where Pastor Young died?-"

"_We _visited," Tyler corrected.

Bonnie shifted on her feet, annoyed.

"When did you two decide you'd struck gold by partnering up?" Damon asked as he gestured between them.

Elena saw Caroline roll her eyes to the ceiling.

"He's still there," Bonnie responded curtly. "His spirit is there, and he tried to kill me. Spirits don't stay on earth unless there's something holding them back."

"So April was telling the truth," Stefan said slowly. "Silas promised her her father back."

"Too bad we can't go talk to her about it, lest we want our eyeballs melted," Damon said.

"So you do believe in Silas," Tyler said as he glared at Damon.

Damon narrowed his eyes at him.

"We're here to talk about how we're going to sell this to Klaus," Bonnie said to Damon impatiently.

"Klaus!" Damon exclaimed. "A perfect example. Remember how scared we all were of him, the big, bad Original vampire? Now we're dealing with him on a regular basis."

"Are you delusional?" Tyler raised his voice. "Dealing with him on a regular basis? He's still big, bad Klaus to some of us, Damon."

"Tyler, calm down," Elena said.

"_Hey_, Alpha-" Damon began at the same time.

Tyler hopped off the stage and stalked toward Damon, and Damon balled his fists with a smirk on his face.

Caroline shot out of her seat. "Tyler!" She intercepted him and put both hands on his chest.

Bonnie kept her focus on Damon in case he rushed at Tyler, but she also stayed alert for Tyler's movements. Tyler beating Damon down would improve the day by ten shades.

"Didn't he almost drain Elena of all her blood? He's killed _werewolves_-"

"_Stop_ it!" Caroline insisted. She tried to get him to see, "_You're not helping._"

Bonnie abruptly left the sword and went to Tyler. She wasn't going to let Caroline chastise him in front of everyone for standing up to Damon. She put her hand between Caroline's on his chest. She was so focused on being the one who spoke to him that she didn't notice that she forced Caroline to move aside, lest she be _pushed_ aside.

"Tyler," she called while looking up at him. She moved her hand up and placed it behind his neck. "_Tyler_."

The solid contact between her skin and his pulled his attention, and he slowly lowered his eyes from Damon's face to look at her. He softened when he saw the state of the left side of her face. Bonnie rubbed his neck with her pinky, and the subtle caress stole Tyler's breath. He spun away from her so that he wouldn't react how he really wanted to. He put his hands on the stage and closed his eyes to calm himself.

Caroline walked over to him and stroke his arm.

"My _point_ is," Damon resumed.

Bonnie cut him off. "We're going to Klaus' house, and we're gonna tell him Kol attacked me. We're gonna tell him he was a threat to the cure; we're gonna tell him where the cure is; _and _we're gonna promise him that Silas will bring his brother back."

"What?" Elena asked.

Tyler turned from the stage, surprise all over his face.

"That's what's going to keep him from killing us, the promise of getting his brother back. It doesn't matter if it actually happens. Klaus just needs to hold on to it long enough….until we get the cure."

Tyler understood what she really meant: until the pack kills him.

"Guys," Elena cut in. "I don't think we should keep looking for the cure if there's an immortal witch who wants to destroy the world on the other side of it. I can deal with being a vampire if that's the option."

"You heard Bonnie," Damon said as he looked at the girl in question, "This isn't just about turning you human anymore. It's about saving all our butts. Let's go. That shiner on your face should help sell the Kol threat story." He gave Tyler a hard stare.

Bonnie grabbed the sword and left with the Salvatores without a backward glance. She picked up her phone from the floor on the way out of the building.

Caroline sighed when they left and put an arm around Tyler's waist. "There's no use arguing with Damon. He's just….an ass. He doesn't care."

Elena straightened her back.

"I know," Tyler said. "But that's not gonna stop me from doing it."

* * *

On the ride to Klaus' mansion, Bonnie fielded questions from Stefan and Damon.

"How's your face?" Stefan asked quietly.

Bonnie looked at him in the rearview mirror. "It hurts." She held herself still in the backseat.

"Could heal that with a little blood after we see Klaus," Damon taunted.

"No, thanks."

"How many swords do you have, Bonnie?" Stefan asked.

"Two. The other three haven't come in yet."

"Are you really gonna help Tyler Lockwood with his ridiculous mission?" Damon asked.

"It's not ridiculous-"

"I get it; Klaus has been a humongous dick to him-"

"The only thing I need from you, Damon, is a promise that you're not gonna mention Tyler's name in anything you say. At all. This is dangerous for him."

Stefan turned from the passenger seat to look at her.

"_What?_"

"Nothing," Stefan answered. "Just….you're agitated from the attack."

That was the most minute cause of her agitation. Still, she said, "I don't like feeling powerless."

"We're just a little confused on when you and Tyler became friends, that's all," Damon said. He looked at her in the rearview mirror and stretched his lips into a smile.

Stefan frowned and faced forward.

Kim answered the door when they arrived. She blinked when she saw Bonnie and turned her attention to Stefan and Damon.

"We're here to talk to Klaus," Damon informed her.

Kim made them wait in the foyer while she went to get Klaus. She didn't rejoin them. The Hybrids weren't supposed to be in attendance when Klaus had guests. But they had permission to be in the next room, the sitting room, when Klaus was visited by people he considered to be enemies or potential enemies. Just in case. The doorbell had alerted every Hybrid in the house. She was joined by Alex, and Lily and Dai, the two Hybrids who remained loyal to Klaus.

When Klaus entered the foyer, completely healed as Bonnie had guessed and dressed in black, he noticed the sword immediately.

"What's this then?" He asked, clearly prepared to go off.

"Nice to see you in tip-top shape and back to your tricks, Klaus," Damon began the ruse. "I think I missed the part in our agreement where we said it was okay to send your psychotic brother after our witch."

"Kol," Klaus guessed, closing his eyes. "He was ranting and raving about-it doesn't matter. Where is he?"

"Dead," Bonnie delivered flatly.

Klaus barely moved his mouth when he asked, "Excuse me?"

"I guess I should've specified when I said 'came after our witch' that he tried to kill her," Damon said.

"I will have your heads for this."

"What did you want me to do?" Bonnie asked. "Get killed? He attacked me at school. He _jumped _me."

"You didn't control your brother, Klaus," Stefan said.

"_You _killed an Original vampire," Klaus said skeptically as he took a step toward Bonnie. "Damon recently told me you'd been downsized."

"It wasn't just me. Elena and Caroline helped."

"Two newborns _and a downsized witch_," he snapped.

"And this," Bonnie added calmly. She reached her hand forward and hit the sword on the floor, where it remained standing.

"Where did you get that?" Klaus asked, his lips twisting with the need to shed the rage that was making his body stiffer and stiffer.

"I stole it. I needed it to look for the cure."

Bonnie gasped and reflexively closed her eyes when the room suddenly stretched into a blur, and her back hit the front door. When she opened her eyes, Klaus had his hand around her throat, and his words were hot on her face. "Something has been _stinking_ lately."

Stefan and Damon were on him in an instant, trying and failing to get him off of Bonnie. Kim moved in before Lily and Dai had a chance. She grabbed Stefan and threw him across the room. Dai followed suit with Damon. Bonnie's annoyance finally boiled into explosive anger, and she yelled through gritted teeth and unclenched Klaus' hand from around her neck, and she swiftly threw him to the middle of the room. She ran up and flung him into the room containing the eavesdropping Hybrids. Lily's appearance surprised Bonnie, and she was pushed across the foyer and into the kitchen. She landed hard on the tile floor, and Alex tried hard not to intervene on her behalf. Tyler hadn't made the introductions, but based on Kim and Adrian's descriptions, he knew that this was the witch who was supposed to help them.

"First Rebekah is daggered and poisoned and put to _sleep _for twelve days, and now Kol is dead," Klaus said as he grabbed the sword and stalked to Bonnie. "Both times you're involved. I don't believe in coincidences."

"An Original trying to kill us?" Bonnie fumed from the floor. "That's not a coincidence; it's the fucking norm." She threw her hand forward and both Klaus and Lily were knocked back by a clear wave of energy, something different from Bonnie's telekinesis. There was a physicality to this one. Klaus and Lily were hit hard on the chest before they went flying back, knocking into Kim and Stefan.

Bonnie got up and rubbed her left hip and arm as she walked into the foyer. "So much for downsized," she commented to Klaus. She felt the deluge of energy. She was at full power again.

"Enough!" Klaus shouted to Kim and Dai. Lily's eyes reflected murder as she stared at Bonnie. "You do realize you just killed an entire line of vampires."

"The sword doesn't contain White Oak. Kol's line might be just fine. He caught on fire and exploded, not exactly your typical vampire death."

"And you stole this sword from two 17th century vampires."

"17th century vampires aren't Original vampires. A nice, healthy fire and water spell took care of them. After the aneurysms, of course. I divined for the sword, Klaus. I saw your guards."

Klaus thought about the trap he'd set inside the storage unit, but he said nothing. He needed to go to the site and see for himself. "What reason did Kol state for attacking you?"

"He thinks I'm connected to Silas, because I was affected by the storm, too."

"Was he right?"

"I have no idea. He didn't intend to give me the chance to see for myself."

"You will pay for this."

"I'm the only witch you got."

"You overestimate your value, Bonnie. You'd be surprised what witches are willing to do if you pay them enough."

"I don't know many who would risk waking an immortal witch," Damon pointed out. "That's the word on the street about Silas."

"Fiction and old wives' tales," Klaus said.

"The cure is buried with Silas in Israel," Bonnie said. "Did Kol tell you that?" she asked when Klaus' clear surprise shone through. "Those were going to be his last words to me before he killed me."

"So you better hope Silas is more than fiction," Stefan said. "Remember what April Young told us? He can bring your brother back," Stefan said.

"Where in Israel is the cure?" Klaus asked.

"Yes, you just tried to kill me and told me I can be replaced, so why not give you the one thing you need me for?" Bonnie asked.

"Keep it to yourself, then," Klaus said. "Even more reason to throw Kol at you when he wakes."

"Even more reason for me to kill him dead _again_."

"Dagger Kol when he comes back," Stefan advised. "Let him cool off for 900 years."

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder," Bonnie said.

"You see, that sounds like a fine way for you to end your days from where I'm standing," Klaus said. "I'll decide what to do with Kol after he wakes, and you better pray he wakes, because if he doesn't it won't matter how much protection your father has: I'll be coming directly for _you_. And this," he said as he picked up the sword from where it had fallen from his hold, "Will be your end. _Over and over and over_."

He quickly switched the sword to his other hand. He looked at his palm. It had finally burned deep enough for him to notice. "What is this?" he asked as he showed Bonnie.

"I have no idea. I didn't create it."

Klaus looked down at his slowly healing palm. "But I have a feeling it didn't happen to you."

"The cure is in Israel, Klaus. I'm ready for the next phase of this," Bonnie said.

"As am I," he promised her. "I can procure a private jet," he told Stefan and Damon.

"We might need visas," Stefan said.

"We don't. We're U.S. travelers."

"Great," Damon said with a tight smile. "Call us. Bonnie, after you."

Bonnie backed out, she and Klaus looking at each other the entire time. She reached behind her to open the front door, and she stepped out.

* * *

She answered in the affirmative when Damon asked her if she was alright once they were in the car.

When they arrived at the school, she had him drive her to the parking lot by the track field. From there, she meant to go to the gym to get her bag while he and Stefan headed to the auditorium. She didn't feel like being part of the group recap. The left side of her face was sensitive, and she'd been thrown, smacked, and choked enough times today to last her the rest of the month. She texted Tyler as soon as she was out of the Salvatores' sights.

_Where are you?_

_First floor stairs. The ones next to the front office. Elena and Caroline are in the gym, told them i wanted to be alone._

Bonnie detoured and headed inside the main building. By the time she made it to the front office, she was running. Tyler heard her footsteps and rushed down the stairs. Bonnie yanked open one of the double doors, and she threw herself in his arms. Tyler lifted her off the floor and held her tight.

Bonnie closed her eyes and tried to calm down. She was right where she wanted to be; there was no need to start hyperventilating now.

"What were you thinking?" she asked. "What were you thinking?"

"Shh. There are still stragglers in here." He set her down and grabbed her hand and led her up to the second floor. He turned left and took her to the boys' bathroom. Once inside, she leaned back on the door while he checked under the stalls. When he was sure they were alone, he walked to her and framed her face, careful of the injured side. "Did he hurt you?"

Bonnie nodded. "He choked me, threatened me, and then someone from your pack threw me into the kitchen where I landed on my side."

Tyler frowned. "What did they look like?"

"Uh, black hair down to the top of her shoulders, thick bangs, chubby cheeks, thick eyebrows. She's White and like the same height as me."

"That's Lily. No one in my pack would hurt you. Two of the Hybrids are still loyal to Klaus. There was no point in breaking their bond."

"Kim was there. She didn't touch me. " After dealing with Kol and Klaus' murderous hatred up close to her face, it was nice to have Tyler's caring voice and worried look. "Tyler, what were you thinking? You shouldn't have told them you were with me."

"What are you talking about?"

"You told them you stole the sword. You told them you went to the site with me. You told them that you're in some way involved in this."

"I wasn't gonna let you take that fall by yourself."

"I could've handled it."

"Fifty-fifty, remember?"

"You're responsible for other people. You have a whole _pack_-"

"I'm responsible for you, too."

Frustrated, Bonnie walked around him. She turned and said, "You're putting their lives in danger by trying to look out for me. If _you_ go down, they do too. That would destroy you."

"This isn't some _thing _where you take all the risks. _There is no hierarchy_. I care about you as much as I do them. Looking out for you, wanting to protect you, isn't abandoning them, and I'm going to do it every time. I've made that clear to you from the start."

Bonnie walked to the second of the four sinks. She lifted her eyebrows when she saw the anxious, bruised, and tired face looking back at her. She's been getting tired a lot quicker lately. "I don't want you to get hurt, Tyler," she said softly. "Not you and not your pack. I know how important they are to you."

"I don't want you to get hurt, either," Tyler replied as he walked up to her.

She couldn't help but smile. She shook her head as if to clear it, and she turned to face him. "We need to think about what we're gonna do next-"

"No. No, can we just-" he framed her face again. "We can talk about that after. One minute, five minutes," he said, and he said the last word on her lips.

Bonnie pulled on the sleeve of his shirt. When Tyler flicked his tongue on her upper lip, she opened up to him and flinched.

"Mmm-mmm," she said and ended the kiss. "It hurts when I open my mouth too wide."

"Sorry," he breathed.

She smiled, but she was still chagrined. She flattened her palm on his chest. "Tyler," she said, just because she liked saying his name. "We need to work on this. Klaus needs to die and soon. I have a way, and we need to get started."

Tyler closed his eyes and nodded.

"I'm not coming to the dance tonight," she said quietly. "I bought the dress. This ugly dress. And I can't go. I need the time to….do what I do best," she said with a resigned smile.

She turned and looked at herself in the mirror. "Did you get my text?"

"What text?" Tyler asked quietly.

"The one that said to meet me tonight." She said it like that was the most ridiculous thing to text someone.

"I did. I texted back."

"I didn't get to see it. Must've been when Kol attacked. Did those two things really happen today?" she asked as tears sprang to her eyes.

Tyler rubbed her shoulders. "I was scared, Bonnie." He rested his mouth on her right shoulder.

"Me, too. I didn't think you would hear me. I don't know if I expected you to in that moment. I needed help, and….you were the person I called."

"I heard you. I heard your voice in my head, and I followed it to where you were. It was like your voice was pulling me." He kissed her hair, and she closed her eyes.

"I still want to find the cure," she said. "It feels like one big fuck you from the universe. Do you think Silas would be a God and the cure buried with him if I'd been looking for it for Elena all along? Cause it really feels like this is happening because _I _want it."

Tyler placed kisses down the left side of her neck and hugged her closer. Bonnie took in a deep breath and relaxed against him when she exhaled. She tilted her head to the right to give him more access, and her eyes drifted closed. He palmed her breasts and fondled them in slow, circular motions, and Bonnie held his hands and followed the movement, her breath coming out of her nose slow and even.

Tyler rubbed his lips on the outer shell of her ear and kissed his way down her neck again. He put his nose to her shoulder and inhaled her.

"Are you okay?" Bonnie asked as the thought came to her.

Tyler lifted his face and looked at her in the mirror. "I'm fine."

Bonnie opened her eyes. She turned around and cupped the left side of his face, "You were angry earlier."

"I was. I was already irritated that April was standing so close to you, and then I was pissed off that you were attacked, and you were hurt, and Damon wasn't helping. But I'm fine now. Well, I'm better," he amended with a small smile.

Bonnie returned it. "Damon never helps."

"So I've heard."

"But we kept your name out of it. Klaus doesn't know you were here."

"Bonnie, that is the least of my concern."

She smiled. "I know." She stroke his cheek with the back of her hand. They gazed at each other a moment, and then Bonnie pulled his face down to hers, and they closed their eyes when their foreheads touched.

"I've been waiting for you," Tyler shared. "Worried and waiting. I just wanted to…."

"Be alone?" Bonnie asked.

"Yes," he said, voicing it a relief in itself.

She smiled. "Me too. The more that happened and the more people freaked out, the more I just wanted a break and just….." She remembered him wanting to fight Damon earlier, wanting to keep pounding on Kol, the promise of a storm on his face when he'd seen the state of hers. He cared about her, and she knew it beyond the shadow of a doubt now. All of those reactions had been about her and her alone, and she dared think it went deeper than the worry of a good friend.

She understood why she felt tired quicker lately. Her father, her mother, Lucy, and now Tyler, she had people who worried about her on a regular basis now, and they were very vocal about it. It forced her to take stock of just how much she was dealing with. It forced her to address things that she'd abandoned a very long time ago: that it wasn't natural or okay for her to be under so much pressure, that she deserved better, that she deserved downtime like everyone else. Abandoning those ideas had lowered her standards for herself and helped her keep up with a full plate of magical responsibilities. It had helped her function hurt after hurt until she broke down, only to keep on trucking afterward.

She'd just admitted that she'd been scared and that she'd had enough of everyone's opinions and emotions earlier, instead of bottling it up and letting it build to a breakdown. And it felt good.

She kissed Tyler flat on the mouth and lowered her hand from the back of his head to the front of his pants to stroke the curve of his dick. She couldn't attend the dance tonight, but they could still have sex in a bathroom like she'd had in mind when she'd sent the text.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Tyler asked, referring to her face.

"I'm very sure."

He kissed her, and then he unzipped his pants and pulled his dick out for her. Bonnie fell to her knees immediately, and he backed up to give her room. She ran her tongue along the side of his extremity. She put him in her mouth and quickly found out that the more she took on, the more her face hurt, so she settled for intermittently licking the skin while she pumped him with two hands. She went slow but firm; her strokes were complete; she let him feel the full circumference of her hands. His dick elongated as it hardened, and it was a sight. Tyler watched her handle him, his fingers twitching at his sides, his hips thrust toward her. He liked the way her hands felt, strong and purposeful. He liked the way he fit in her hands, liked the way the skin of his dick stretched and loosened under her care as she moved up and down.

Bonnie narrowed her focus to the head of his cock. She may have remained a virgin longer than her friends, but she, Caroline, and Elena used to make a habit of sneaking Cosmopolitan magazines in 8th and 9th grade, and while some of the publication's advices had been confusing, redundant, and at times downright unnecessary to all three, Bonnie had eagerly memorized a lot of the good ones. She'd finally gotten herself a subscription the year prior and told her dad it wasn't a big deal when he saw the first charge on the credit card bill.

She twisted her fist around the head of his cock like she was turning the bulbous handle of a faucet. The head became more and more sensitive to her touch, and he cursed under his breath. He widened his stance and leaned forward to place his hands on the sink, and he chuckled when he looked down at her and found her looking up at him.

"It feels really good," he said.

"Good. I want it to feel good."

"_Oh_ my God," he whispered when she did it faster and squeezed him harder. He closed his eyes and licked his lips, his mouth salivating.

Bonnie lamented the fact that she couldn't fit him in her mouth. She was making do very well. She was taking him apart just as beautifully, but she wanted the feel of him in her mouth. She wet the tip of his penis generously with her saliva, and then she rubbed it in circles with her palm. Tyler gasped and felt his legs tingle all the way down to the bottom of his feet.

No longer than seven minutes passed, and Bonnie had him calling on Jesus. A full grin on her face, she gave him a break on the direct stimulation and resumed pumping him up and down.

The bathroom door suddenly opened, and she startled, taking her hands off of Tyler. Although Tyler's blood rushed in surprise, he acted immediately.

"Oh damn-"

"Go to another bathroom," Tyler cut him off. "This one's out of order."

The sophomore turned to leave, and Tyler saw the loophole in what he'd said. He grabbed the boy's arm and turned him around. "You peeked inside and didn't see anyone, just a wet floor."

The boy nodded, his short, thin, blonde-tipped dreads swaying back and forth.

Crisis averted, Tyler asked, "Why do people stay so late at this school?"

He turned to Bonnie, and she folded her lips in amusement at the sight of his dick sticking straight up out of his pants while he was busy being indignant.

Tyler looked down at himself. "Come on," he invited, smiling, "We'll have more privacy in the stalls." The bathroom doors did not lock.

Bonnie stood when he got near her, and he put a hand at the small of her back and followed her to the stall of her choice. There were only two.

"Wait, wait," she said after she pushed open the second door. She stepped inside and turned. Biting her bottom lip, she grabbed his cock and gently pulled him in, remembering how hot she'd found it when he'd led her by the labia.

"Oh," Tyler said. He chuckled as he shuffled in, enjoying the small tug. "Is this payback?"

"Mmm-hmm. Is it _sweet_ payback?"

"Mmm-hmm." He reached behind him to lock the stall, and then switched their positions so that her back was to it. He took her hand off of him and sank to his knees. He pushed her dress up, something he's been wanting to do since Tuesday, and she held it out of the way. He pulled her underwear down to her upper thighs and found a very bald, soft brown pussy. He grinned. He hadn't minded the hair one bit, but this was new on her, so he looked forward to acquainting himself.

Bonnie smiled when she saw his delight. He attached his mouth to her mound and suckled. The suction was loud and wet, and he did it until her mound glistened with his saliva. He lowered to her slit and delicately flicked his tongue over her folds on a downward trajectory. Then he did it again, this time making his tongue firm enough to penetrate her flabby folds. She had never cared for how her lips hung down so noticeably on her pussy, as if it was in a permanent state of having lost a huge amount of weight and was dealing with the loose skin. She had never cared for them until Tyler had used them to pull her on Saturday, until she'd watched him suck on them, until she watched them cover the side of his lips as he lavished her clit with strokes of his tongue at this very moment.

She felt compelled to watch Tyler. With Jeremy, the few times things had calmed down enough for him to go down on her, she hadn't had a preference. But with Tyler, it added to her arousal to see how exactly he was making her feel so incredible. It added her arousal to see what he was doing to enjoy her pussy.

She gave it to him, her hips far away from the door as he licked her toward completion, the feeling of her underwear halfway down her thighs, restraining her movements, also adding to her arousal. She was already worked up from pleasuring him. Now she wanted him to do whatever he wanted to her.

Tyler pulled her underwear down the rest of the way. He removed his mouth from her sweet pussy and helped her take them off. He stood and let the garment slide down his left wrist.

"Take me," she said, and there was pleading in her tone, more asking than demanding, and Tyler's pupils dilated with keen interest when he registered how she was looking at him: waiting on him for what to do next, waiting for him to decide, her mouth open, her face soft, her eyes completely vulnerable.

"Turn around."

Bonnie turned quickly, eager, ready; she leaned the right side of her face against the door, and his cock jumped. He didn't touch her right then. Instead, he took in how fast she lifted the back of her dress and spread her legs and pushed her ass back to him. He made her wait, let her burn with the anticipation. He made himself wait, even though he could already feel his cock entering her.

Bonnie closed her eyes and waited. She wasn't going to question. She knew he would come. She would wait. And the more she waited, the shorter her breaths came, the more her nipples pushed against her bra. She wanted it so bad. Her day had sucked, and she wanted his touch, wanted to be surrounded by him, wanted everything he could give.

Tyler grabbed his cock and began stuffing her, and she gasped. She folded her lips and grunted as he fed her more. Tyler didn't touch her. He wanted their genitals to be their only point of contact. He leaned his right hand on the door as he got closer to bottoming out in her slick vagina. He sighed when he was all the way in. He didn't give them time to adjust; he began humping her immediately, his stance wider than hers, his hips building a carnal rhythm.

He wrapped his arms around her and kept her breasts squeezed in his palms. Bonnie held on to the hook on the door, and they breathed together, this sexual act like mana to a day that had turned into worry, fear, uncertainty, frustration, and hurt.

There was only certainty here: he wanted her, and she wanted him. There was no worry: Bonnie was sure that she would orgasm from him, and he was sure that would come with enough time spent inside her. Here, waiting was sweet, not frustrating. Here, there was only pleasure and consideration.

She loved how close he held her, how hard his slow thrusts pushed her against the door. Tyler buried his face against hers and breathed her in. The smell and feel of her mixed together to cloud his mind. The more he fucked her, the better it felt, the more cloying, and the more like he would never have enough no matter how frequently he had her.

He held her tighter, tried to bleed into her, and Bonnie moaned her approval. "Please take me," she begged.

He snapped his hips into her. "I wanna bite you, Bonnie," he grunted, and his face mutated. "I want it. I want you."

"Yes. Please. Tyler."

He put enough space between their bodies to cock her head to the right and expose the left side of her neck.

"Please," Bonnie pled, and Tyler punctured her skin with his four teeth. Her eyes flew open as the blood was sucked out of her body. "Yes, yes, oh God."

Talking made her blood rush out faster, and Tyler emitted an animalistic growl and shook her body as he feasted and fucked and took more. Her blood went straight to his head. His taste buds were in heaven. She was succulent with something extra, something Bonnie, something magic, something reflecting his feelings for her, like nothing he had ever tasted before, and he imbibed more.

The pain was sharp at first, then dull when he started to suck the blood, then insistent the more he took. It was marvelous. She had no control over it. She was at his mercy. Her body was his, and it was relief. She wanted to find out just how much blood he would take before he decided that he'd had enough. Her body weakened deliciously so that she slumped in his arms a little, and still he took care of her pussy.

"Ty," she said hoarsely.

Tyler detached his teeth from her and bit the fleshy part of his right arm. "_Feed_."

Bonnie latched on to his arm without a second thought. She bit his arm and sucked, and the blood flowed into her mouth. Tyler stopped humping her and watched, attracted by the sight.

Bonnie took to his arm like she took to her favorite dessert. It didn't completely taste like blood. There was the smell and taste of iron, but they didn't overpower. His blood was thick and filling, just a little sweet and completely Tyler. What made her want more when the wound healed was the revelation in her mind that if there existed a way for her to taste magic, he was what it would taste like. She was about to lick his arm when Tyler took it from her and bit himself anew.

She rushed to drink, moaning her satisfaction. She pushed back and humped him.

Tyler lifted his arm in a way that gave her warning so that he didn't disturb her. She held his arm to her mouth, and he turned it so that she turned her head and exposed the right side of her neck again. He resumed thrusting, faster but his strokes still complete.

Bonnie grunted with every thrust. Growling low in his throat, he bit her again, and she orgasmed on contact. Her body shook from the supreme overstimulation, and she convulsed in his sturdy hold, holding tight to his arms, and the green of her eyes changed to the yellow of a pure werewolf.

Tyler removed his teeth, because biting her while she was shaking so hard was dangerous. Humping her, however, posed no threat, and it felt so good that he stood on his toes to keep going.

"_God, yes!_" Bonnie strained when she finished. She closed her legs and flattened her palms on the door as the charge on her pussy continued.

Her closed legs gave Tyler's dick less room to move. The sensation was incredible and caused his body to give in, and he shouted through his orgasm until he was spent.

He remembered to feed her again to replenish her strength and heal the wound, and they held each other there against the door, tired, shaking, still connected.

Bonnie felt something liquid roll down her chin. She lifted her head from the door and caught it with her index and middle fingers. She looked at what it was. Blood. She couldn't take her eyes off of it. She gently pushed at Tyler's thigh until he pulled out. She unlocked and opened the door and numbly made her way to a mirror.

Her mouth and chin were a foreign sight. She slowly brought up her right hand and touched. The blood was still fresh; the blood from a vampire's body took longer to coagulate. The pads of her fingers easily slid in it, and touching the blood made her realize just how far she'd gone.

She turned to Tyler, who had followed her, and saw the blood on his face. Surprised, she said, "I drank your blood. I…." She turned to the mirror and looked at the state of her mouth. "I drank blood." She gasped.

Tyler's stomach dropped. He'd asked to bite her, because he'd wanted to bite her. She'd agreed. He hadn't thought she'd done it because she'd felt like she had to. "You hated it."

"I never….it was just spur of the moment." She chuckled when she exhaled. His ejaculate was crowding the exit of her vagina, but she paid no mind. "It was one hell of a….heat of the moment. I've never wanted blood. I've never…." She faced him again and touched her neck where he'd bitten her. She then touched the left side of her face. They were both healed.

"I never expected to do that," she said. "I just….wanted to….give myself to you. To give you everything. I…." Her eyes widened when she realized just how much she wanted to give him her burdens. "I liked it," she said as she teared up. "I liked it a lot."

"But you're crying," he remarked. He framed her face and searched her eyes. "I can handle it, Bonnie. I can handle you giving me everything. I handled it just now, and I can handle it when we're not naked. Or half naked, or all covered up. Tell me-"

"I wanted it. I needed it. I liked it." She smiled. "It's just shocking."

He relaxed and returned her smile. "I've never done anything like that either. Ever."

"Vampires don't go around biting each other?"

"They might, but me and Caroline-we didn't. And it's not something I'm into or anything; it's just-I wanted to drink your blood."

He was sincere, but his choice of words reminded both of Dracula, and they burst into laughter.

"The closest thing to crazy vamp sex I've had is, um, with Caroline?" When she lifted her chin in acknowledgment, he judged it safe to go on. "It was our first time, at Elena's birthday party two summers ago. She vamped out out of nowhere, and it scared the crap out of me. I mean it didn't show on my face, but it scared me. I was still a werewolf then, and my heart sped up like crazy. I thought she was gonna bite me. I stopped everything to make sure. She told me she wasn't, that she was just…..excited. So, uh, we continued and she did it again. And she kept doing it, and every single time it scared me."

"Because vampires and werewolves hate each other?" she asked.

"Maybe? But it happened even after I became a Hybrid. We worked out this thing where she only did it sometimes, and she had to warn me before she did it, but every time….it just made me want to panic."

"Because of Klaus."

He swallowed. "I just don't like it," he said with a strained smile. "But I did it sometimes, because she likes it."

"You never told her how it made you feel."

"I know her. She'd feel bad. She'd take it personally, and I just….I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable about liking it."

"Hmm. So you chose to be uncomfortable instead," she teased, recalling what he'd said to her so long ago at the Festival.

Tyler smiled, remembering his words. "Yeah, I guess I did. You're smiling with blood all over your face."

"I know," she said, mortified. "But so are _you_," she pointed out with a perfectly arched brow. She went to wipe her mouth but remembered that she didn't want that mess on her sleeve.

"Wait," Tyler said before she turned to the sink. He used three fingers to wipe the blood from her mouth and chin. "You're a clean eater. Some people are so over the top with it, on their cheeks and everything. Just nasty. Rebekah took me to a feed house a couple of times when I first turned," he explained.

Bonnie smiled. However, the smile disappeared when Tyler took the bloody fingers to her clit and started rubbing. He held her butt with the hand still decorated with her underwear and backed her into the sink. Bonnie held on to his biceps, and they smiled at each other. What he was doing was wild, inspired, and it set her stomach aflutter. She bit her lip, taken in by how tenderly he was studying her face. He could handle her everything. He wanted to. Those were dangerous things to say to her.

Her hold on his biceps tightened, and he took it as his cue to rub faster. She was close. He squeezed her asscheek, and she wanted him to squeeze harder. She grabbed the front of his shirt and said, "Please make me come."

Tyler shook his head in admiration. She was _sexy_. What she'd just asked was sexy, the sounds she made while having sex were sexy, the way she came was sexy, and that was a departure from the _hot _he always used to describe very attractive girls.

"Please," she whispered, because she liked asking him.

After a short time, Tyler stopped doing the circles and pushed against her clit and rubbed it side to side, fast. Bonnie closed her eyes and opened her mouth and came, pushing his come out of her vagina. He kept rubbing, and a stronger orgasm knocked her over. She grabbed the sink behind her and lifted onto her toes and threw her head back as she twitched. Her voice came out like she was lifting something heavy. She was half sitting on the sink and blindly reached for the hand treating her clit and missed as her lower body went stiff. She threw the arm around Tyler's neck and turned her body into him, and he wrapped his arm around her waist to control her movement.

Bonnie attempted to close her legs, and he ordered her not to. She clutched his hair and put her head next to his and tried to bear it out. He kept rubbing, and her clit reached new sensitivity, and she felt her urethra breathe out, a warning sign she'd only experienced twice before. Her upper body joined her lower body in going stiff, and she gushed. She heard wet splashing as he rubbed the liquid out of her.

"I'm _fucking-_" Her hips bucked hard, and her legs gave out, and Tyler tightened his arm around her waist and guided her to the floor. Her hips were out of control, and she wanted to be embarrassed about how hard she was coming, but she couldn't take her focus on how severely her hips were jerking. "Tyler, I ca-can't. Mm! Mm! Mm!"

Tyler dropped his butt on the floor and kept going, wanting everything she had, wanting to leave her empty. She was on her side and trying to climb into him, pulling at his shirt, her face buried in his neck.

Bonnie yelled sharply and snapped her legs closed tight and held his wrist. "Please stop, please, please," she hiccuped.

"I will," he said with a big smile. He held her against his chest as she twitched hard from the aftershocks.


	10. Chapter 10

**Part 10: Clock's Ticking**

"That was….completely embarrassing," she said on his chest. Her heart rate was back to normal, and his hand was still trapped between her legs.

"Looked like it felt really good to me."

"Oh, it did," she confirmed, closing her eyes. "It really did. But it was embarrassing. I sounded like…." She laughed. "I sounded like I had a speech problem. And I couldn't control my body. It was amazing," she sighed.

"You were amazing."

"_You_ were amazing."

Tyler tightened his embrace.

"Oh my God, how long have we been in here?"

"Don't know, don't care."

"Well, you should." She sat up straight and turned to look at him as she got up, and she noticed his boner. "Uh…"

"Uh, we'll save that," he said, and he stood.

They went into separate stalls to clean themselves up.

"I don't think we should let another week go by before we do this again," Tyler said.

Bonnie smiled in her stall and hummed.

When they met at the sinks, Tyler held out her underwear. "Hold on," he said when she made to grab it. He held it to his nose and smelled the crotch. The wolf flashed in his eyes.

"Tyler!" Bonnie chastised and grabbed his forearms. "I've been wearing that _all day_."

"I'm an animal, Bonnie," he said, and the smile he gave her was characteristic of just that.

"Oh my God." She shut her eyes tight.

"It smells-"

"Don't say good. Don't lie."

"It does smell good. It doesn't smell like something you'd bottle up and put in the perfume aisle, but that doesn't mean it doesn't smell good. It's….heavy. Intense. Raw. It smells like your vagina. But, you know, over the day."

"Okay, that's-okay. Your eyes changed."

"I told you."

"You're a freak." She stepped closer and quietly asked, "Do you want to keep it?"

He grinned. "I'll take the next one."

She smiled, her heart thudding. She took the undergarment from him and put it on. They then washed the lower half of their faces and swished water in their mouths. They scrubbed their teeth with their index finger to get rid of any leftover blood. Bonnie washed her neck where she'd been bitten and then stuck her tongue out. Nothing she could do about that part.

Tyler scrubbed his arm where he'd bitten himself and then he scrubbed underneath his fingernails.

As he washed his hands, he ruminated on a startling truth: he'd wanted to Mark her in the stall. And he still wanted to. He wanted all of her, all of the time, and he wanted everyone to know. He, Adrian, and Kim had talked about Marking during the rest of the drive last week. He'd learned a little about the process from a section of the cave drawings, but the Betas had further enlightened him.

He started to blink excessively when he remembered that biting was one way to Mark a mate. But he'd been biting Bonnie to _feed_. Buthe had also wanted to claim her in that heated moment, and he'd spoken it, and she had said yes in so many words, a very key aspect of Marking.

He sent up a silent prayer that his status as a Hybrid didn't exempt him from the lycan rules for Marking. While a bond couldn't be chosen because it was cosmically emotional and, at base, tied to power, a Mark could be helped, and he felt that it was something that Bonnie needed to know and willingly submit to before he did it.

If he _had _accidentally done it, however….he wouldn't exactly lament it. He was positive that Bonnie liked him as more than a friend.

"Uh, got any on your clothes?" he asked as he turned off the faucet.

Bonnie's answer was stolen by the loud groaning of the pipes running behind the toilets. One stall, then all three. The fixture creaked and then the first burst, and the toilet bowl with water.

"_Crap_." Bonnie turned off the faucet and grabbed her phone, and they ran out just as the second toilet malfunctioned.

"What is up with that?" Tyler asked when they got to the stairway.

"I have a good idea, but I can't worry about that right now. Klaus is priority number one. I need to fill you in on what happened at his house, and then we need to go over the steps to kill him."

"Okay. You said you'd work on it over the weekend."

"I did. That's what we need to talk about. I had to give him the sword, Tyler."

He swallowed. That meant that Klaus knew that the sword had been stolen. "We should meet at my house. You said we should spend some time there," he reminded her with a small smile.

Bonnie smiled. "I have my powers back. The clock's ticking. Klaus is way too close. He needs to die this weekend."

He nodded, and they descended the stairs and broke out into the late afternoon. Bonnie didn't stop running. It felt good to run. The air felt fresh, cleaner somehow. Her sense of smell was sharper. She was smiling, and then she was laughing. She was happy. She was bright-eyed and energetic, and she ran faster.

Tyler ran after her, a little confused as to why she was laughing, but he was happy to see her looking so carefree.

They slowed to a walk when they got to the building housing the gym and stepped inside. "Should we go in together?" Tyler asked.

"I don't know. I have no idea how long we've been gone. It feels like an hour." Bonnie took off at a jog, and Tyler followed alongside her.

If they'd been gone for an unreasonable amount of time, there might be questions. It would look a little odd that he'd asked for space and Bonnie had gone off with Stefan and Damon, only for the two of them to come back together. He wasn't prepared to lie. Or rather, he didn't care to lie.

They entered the gym, and Bonnie looked for her messenger bag. It had been removed from its place by the chair that held the bags of balloons. Tyler tapped her arm and pointed to where Caroline had moved it: next to where laid her own bag as well as his backpack.

"There you are," Caroline said as she walked up beside them.

"Yeah," Bonnie answered as they walked to her bag. "Where are all of the balloons?"

"Popped," Caroline answered. "All of them. At the same time. I've sent some people on an emergency run, because we don't have _any _backup red ones."

Tyler wanted to tell Bonnie that the balloons had popped when she'd screamed for him.

"Well, I can't stay to blow them up. I need to go home." She picked up her bag. Boldly touching Tyler's chest, she said, "I'm showering, and then I'm coming over."

"Uh, coming over for what?" Caroline asked them.

Bonnie took her hand off his chest and looked at her. Tyler answered, "To talk about the Klaus situation."

"Oh perfect, I'll be there, too."

Bonnie and Tyler stared at her. Tyler forced himself to speak, "Uh...we've kind of talked about this."

"That me knowing is a risk? There's not telling me things, and then there's _actively_ shutting me out when I'm telling you that I want to know and want to be there for you. I didn't even know you'd gone to the explosion site, Tyler. I didn't know you'd _stolen _from Klaus. I found out all of this with everyone else. I'm telling you right now that there is no risk. I want to be a part of this. Every conversation." She turned a challenging look on Bonnie, who calmly turned her attention to Tyler.

"Uh….yeah. Sure," Tyler answered. He was blinking a lot slower than he needed to.

"Perfect, then," Bonnie answered. "I'll see you guys in like an hour and half, maybe two. Where's Elena?"

"Damon called her, so she left," Caroline said. "He said you….went in another direction." She looked at Tyler and what she'd been considering in the time it had taken him and Bonnie to return to the gym solidified in her mind. They had met up.

"Okay," Bonnie said. "See you guys later." She turned and headed for the door. She hadn't had time to think of doing anything with Tyler at the meeting later, besides going over the spells to weaken Klaus for the kill, but Caroline's inclusion made her roll her eyes as she walked. At the door, she turned and scanned the room for April. She was gone.

"So, are you staying here, or are you heading home?" Tyler asked Caroline.

"I was thinking of staying a little bit. We can hang out here until Bonnie's ready. I don't think I'm going to the dance tonight."

"Why not?"

"You still want to go?"

"Not really, but I know how important this stuff is to you. Me not going is no reason for you to stay home."

"Well, I _wasn't _thinking of staying home. I was thinking of sleeping over tonight," she said as she stepped closer and played with the lapels of his jacket. "After what happened today, I just...I'm not in the mood to party."

He nodded. He hoped she didn't smell any leftover scent of the blood. "I can't hang out here. I'm gonna head home and shower, too," he said as he bent down to pick up his backpack.

Caroline did a half nod and blinked. That was a nice coincidence, that Bonnie needed a shower and now he did, too. She wanted to ask him what he needed to wash off. Instead, she said, "I'll delegate here, then, and go home to grab my stuff."

Tyler blinked and nodded. "I'll see you there, then."

"Tyler, wait. What took you so long to come back?"

"We were talking. About Klaus, about how the Kol story had gone. I didn't realize so much time had passed."

"It's been at least ten minutes since Elena left," she said with a shrug of her shoulder.

Tyler nodded. "I'll see you later."

Caroline stood very still as she watched him leave. For the first time, she considered the very strong possibility that Bonnie and Tyler were actually sleeping together, that it wasn't simply a question of Bonnie being into him or him being into her anymore, that they weren't simply talking and stealing and going places to do God knows what in their secret partnership. _She_ knew what. She was pretty sure she did.

She turned from the exit after Tyler crossed it, and something about Bonnie came to the forefront of her conscious.

The bruise on her face was healed.

* * *

**A/N: Alright y'all. Caroline's gonna call a spade a spade in the Lockwood home. But is she going to go off on Bonnie or Tyler? Put your guess in! It's already written, and the chapter is hella long.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Part 11: Two-people Powwow in a Three-people Meeting**

Bonnie locked her car and headed inside the house. Her father's car was parked, but she didn't see or hear him on the first floor. She headed to his room upstairs and knocked on his open door. Nothing.

She listened for any noise in his bathroom but didn't hear anything there either. She headed for her room and decided to call his phone after her shower.

And there, she found him sitting at the foot of her bed. With the sword standing in front of him.

"_Dad_," she chastised. She dropped her bag and rushed to the sword. "What are you doing?"

"You've got a pretty interesting way of staying out of it," commented a female voice from the closet across the door.

"Lucy?" She blinked and suddenly there was a person standing next to Lucy. "Mom. Wha-"

"You wanna tell me more about this spell you're working on?" Rudy asked calmly as he gestured at the sword.

"I already told you-" Bonnie stopped and took a good look at the sword. It was old, ancient. Not the sword that Jeremy had touched.

"A nice surprise I found waiting for me when I went to the bathroom," Lucy said.

"You got one," Bonnie murmured to herself.

"I touched it and got a vision of you holding it and summoning more. Only it happened in the past."

"I wasn't holding it. I was holding another one. This came to you. That's three."

"The Five's swords," Abby said. "Why did you call them, Bonnie? We said you'd stay out of this. You're supposed to be going to a school dance tonight. Was that a lie?"

"No. But I'm not going to the dance anymore," she said as she took the sword and rounded her bed to hide it with the other. "I got attacked at school: an Original. Kol Mikaelson. He's dead now. Killed him with one of these."

"Excuse me?" Abby asked. "Do you want to start at the beginning?"

Bonnie stood. "He attacked me, because….listen, _you_ wanted to stop this. I didn't say anything."

"There was nothing for you to say. Lucy saw the future," Abby reminded her.

Bonnie looked at her father, and she understood. "You told him?"

"Everything," Abby confirmed.

"_Why?_"

"Because you need to be stopped," Rudy replied. "Bonnie, she said you're gonna die. Now I don't know why she thought going after this cure was something to support you in in the first place, but it stops now. You're dropping it."

"I'm not. I'm _not_," she insisted when they kept looking at her. "I know where the cure is. Capernaum?" she asked Abby. The location was confirmed by the look on her and Lucy's faces.

"How did you find out?" Abby asked.

Bonnie sighed. "The vampire who tried to kill me? He told me. It's why he wanted to-the cure is buried with a witch. An old one. His name is Silas, ever heard of Him?" When Lucy shook her head, she continued, "He's attached to this witch named Qetsiyah."

She told them the story that she had heard from Shane's presentation months ago. "The cure is with Him," she repeated at the end. "Look, He's bad news, but an immortal witch...that's still human, right? They need to eat and drink and sleep? He can't be in great shape so grabbing the cure is still possible."

"What are you thinking about?" Lucy asked. When Bonnie blinked, she elaborated. "You're thinking about something right now; there's something else. I can't read it, but it's there. Something about the storm you told us happened. Does it have something to do with Silas?"

"Bonnie," Abby warned when the young witch avoided eye contact.

"I was hurt during the storm," she confessed. "It was in my brain, and it was excruciating. It felt like something was trying to tear it apart. Tyler-my friend-he helped. It stopped as soon as the storm stopped. I have my powers back now, though. I got them back today."

"And?" Abby asked, feeling there was more.

"And I think someone was channeling me. I think….it was Silas. There's this girl: April Young. She said that her God Silas promised to resurrect her father. As soon as she said it, the storm started. I think I was attacked."

Rudy scrubbed his face.

"How can it be Silas? You just said He was buried," Lucy reminded her.

"I don't know," Bonnie said. "Look, I didn't tell you all of that-I just want you to know what we might be up against."

"Bonnie, are you losing your mind?" Rudy asked. "If this Guy is buried with the cure, _if _He did attack you, that means He's probably the One who _kills _you."

"I've considered that. And I want the cure anyway."

"_Bonnie_," Abby said. "You _just _said that releasing this….._Man_….means chaos for the rest of the world. The search for the cure is off!"

"It's _not_. We can handle him, or we can try. He wakes up, anything happens, it's three against one."

"_Two _against one, Bonnie, you'll be dead. You won't be here," Lucy reminded her.

"But you don't know it's Him for sure."

"So now it's a _coincidence_ that He attacked you?" Lucy asked.

Bonnie inhaled. "I want….to find….the cure. It's important."

"No, it's not," Abby replied. "It's not more important than your life. It's not more important than everyone else's life. Bonnie...I'm okay with being a vampire. I told you this before; I told you this at the very beginning. This doesn't need to be fixed."

"It does."

"_It doesn't_."

Bonnie clutched her head in frustration.

"You're talking about putting thousands of people in danger, if not more," Rudy said. "For some reason you're not thinking about your life, so can you at least think about them?"

"I'm not stopping," she swore. "And you can't stop me. I don't need you there to get the cure. You guys have no idea what this means."

"You're obsessing," Abby declared.

"Obsess-What do you know about me? What do you know about me?" she asked Lucy in turn. "We've spent a lot of time talking about the cure, trying to figure out where it is, how we're gonna get it, but what do you know about me? What do you know about what this _means _to me? Telling me I look beautiful in a Lisa Turtle dress doesn't mean you know me. So we stop, so we don't do this. What happens to me? The world is safe, _everyone_ is safe, and you're still a vampire. Do you have any idea what happens to me? What do I do?"

"You go on with your life," Abby said softly.

Bonnie smiled bitterly. "My life. And do you know what my life is? More of this. More of _can't have that, because it's bad for everybody else_. That's my life. That's it _every_ time. Every time, _deal_ with it, because it's good for everybody else. You have know idea what you turning did to me. These people….I trusted them, and they killed you. _That_ was my life. That….was my life turned upside down. That was….I'm not over it. I can't get over it, and I tried. I tried to move on, but I was….I was frozen. Inside. I was all ice. And then this cure comes along….

I _am_ obsessing. Because do you have any idea how many times I try to do something like this? How many times I try to fix something just for me? Any time I want to fix something for someone else, the universe just opens up. Just lets it happen. Any time it's just….just me….it shuts. I don't get to have this. I can't save you, because people would die. I couldn't save grams because I didn't know how. So her death was just _meant to be_. I wasn't supposed to save my boyfriend, and the Spirits made _sure_ that I remembered that. I'm just _not _supposed to. But everyone else?

Two against one. So let it _be_ two against one. Don't tell me I have to be there, don't tell me you can't do what I do. Don't tell me I can't _rest_. Don't tell me this all crumbles with _two_ when I've been holding it up _by _myself. Because what happens if we get the cure and Silas isn't a threat, and you become a witch again? You go back to Eden? You go back to….I don't even know where you live outside of staying with Abby, Lucy. You go, and I'm….."

"I _want_ to spend time with you," Abby said softly as she walked up to her, her eyes teary to match Bonnie's. She stroke her left temple. "I want to get to know you. That can't happen if you're dead. I can't let you do this. You can't risk waking Silas. We can figure something else out."

Bonnie judged it to be a lie. There was only one chance. There was no figuring something else out. "I have to go. I have somewhere to be," she said solemnly and she headed for the bathroom.

"Bonnie," Rudy warned as he stood up. "I don't think that's a good idea. I don't think you should go anywhere, just….stay home, do any homework you have, and just...be here."

"I have to go see Tyler."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Rudy said.

"_I promised him something_," she said testily. "I promise you: no one will die. He's one of those. The universe is open."

She went in the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She locked it and slid to the floor, her eyes golden yellow as she wiped the unshed tears away.

* * *

"I'm not the only one who saw her eyes turn, right?" Rudy asked as they descended the stairs. "I've never seen that before."

"I saw it," Abby confirmed. "I don't think she realized it was happening. It looked like…."

"A werewolf?" Lucy completed for her. Since Bonnie couldn't possibly have become a werewolf without knowing, Lucy reverted back to the more pressing topic. "What are we gonna do about the cure?"

"You can bind her powers: get a blood sample from her and recite the spell, or spill your own blood and do it," Abby answered. "But that wouldn't go over well. And she can't be without her powers in this town. But I'm not letting her die. Not for me, not for anyone."

Rudy tried to figure out how he was going to handle Bonnie, whichever side the coin landed. Everything she'd said was news to him. He'd been able to tell plenty of times that she walked with a burden, but he'd thought that simply trying to talk to her about her magical responsibilities was enough. When she'd told him about Abby's death, she'd talked about it like she was recapping something she'd seen in the news, a tragedy that had happened to someone else, not her. Since then, he's told himself that not having grown up with Abby had made her turning a little easier for Bonnie to handle. After all, Abby was still conscious. He'd assumed that Abby was the only one having a rough time with the change. Now he knew that he'd assumed wrong.

* * *

April sat on her calves in front of Silas' altar with her eyes closed and her hands clasped in supplication. Now that she could summon a God, she had no idea how to pray to Him to make it happen. Did she start off with _Dear Silas_? Would it take days for Him to appear again, like last time?

"You said that-I'm trying to figure out how to talk to You. It's me, April. I pray to You, Silas. I didn't go to the explosion site today. I know You said to, but….and I wanted to, but….I just couldn't. I don't have a car. My dad's car is here, but….I don't know how to drive yet. He was supposed to teach me on my sixteenth birthday. In April."

"April, born in April."

She opened her eyes and found Him standing on her left. "It was kind of last minute. It was Bella for the longest time, and then my mom decided on April right there in the hospital. Hi."

"It suits you. Hi. I'm sorry you couldn't go. I didn't think transportation would be a problem."

"It's too much to do on foot. It's not like I can ask anyone for a ride. Well, I can ask a neighbor, but I don't really want to have to explain."

"I'm sorry."

"You're not wearing Your suit," she commented as she stood. "You're in plain people clothes."

"Ah, I'm teaching a class in forty-five minutes." He was. But He mostly wanted to appear more relatable at this stage.

"I won't keep You. I have the bug. Well, it's more like an ant."

He smiled. She stood and led Him to the kitchen where she'd flattened an ant on the freezer door. "I hope it's not too crushed."

"It doesn't matter." He raised His right hand to the ant and glanced at her. She wasn't looking at His every move in anticipation like He'd expected. Her eyes were on the ant, but she was far away. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah," she answered, her eyes still on the ant.

He lowered His hand. "April."

She looked at Him. "I'm sorry. I'm just…thinking." She sighed when He waited for her. "I talked to Bonnie today. She asked me about You, wanted to know what You sounded like. She wanted to know….if I really thought You could bring my dad back."

"And now you're doubting."

"I don't mean to. But people don't come back to life."

"They used to. They still do from time to time. And when I wake up, a whole lot will. Everyone who played a part in this by sacrificing their lives will be brought back." Everyone who knowingly sacrificed, anyway.

"Do you think she's on to You? Does she know about You?"

"In a manner. What else did she say?"

"Nothing. She was just…questioning me. Trying to see if I really believed in You, I guess. It made me doubt, but it also made me kind of angry. I feel like I'm so close, and she was trying to…." She closed her eyes and breathed.

"Look," he said softly. She opened her eyes, and He raised His hand to the ant. His projection could not recite spells. Use physical magic, yes, but not recite spells to make magic happen. He had never perfected that. So His image closed its eyes in front of April, and, from His altar room, He wove the spell.

"_Eímai i̱ zo̱í̱. Tha pethánei. Eímai i̱ gi̱, kai óla af̱tá pou perikleíei ti̱n Fýsi̱ . Mésa apó tis fysikés dynámeis, kaloí̱theis kai kakoí̱theis, aisthánomai óti i̱ syntonistí̱s ti̱s zo̱í̱s . Éna apló, mikró, ti̱s zo̱í̱s, énas nekrós. Apó ti̱ fýsi̱ tous, to pó̱s to eídos kai to poni̱ró apó ti̱ fýsi̱, eínai to eídos, kai apó ti̱n kakoí̱thi̱ fysiká me kaloí̱theis kai kakoí̱theis, egó̱ o Sílas, o ánemos gia na perásei páno̱ apó ti̱ gi̱, af̱tí̱ ti̱ zo̱í̱ gia na to paralávei._"

His image opened its eyes and blew softly at the ant, and wisps of beautiful thin black smoke came out of its mouth.

"_Áf̱xi̱si̱. Áf̱xi̱si̱_," He chanted in the altar room.

"_Áf̱xi̱si̱!_" His voice boomed in every room of the house and April jumped before putting a calming hand over her mouth. One of His hands was resting by the ant, and it was streaked with black lines. Black wisps floated in his eyes. The crushed parts of the ant pulled together to form a whole. And then the whole moved, slow at first, then as if it had never died. April covered her mouth with her second hand, and the anxiety in her eyes turned to wonder as she watched the small creature continue its way up the freezer door as if it had never been stopped.

Shane looked at her and waited for her reaction.

"It's alive," she marveled quietly. "It's…." The ant went over the fridge and out of sight. She looked at Him and said, "You did it."

"I can do more."

"I'll help you. I will help you."

"I'm glad. Your dad has his whole life ahead of him, April. By the Fall, you will be driving to your first day of junior year."

She smiled. She was relieved. It could happen. It was going to happen. "So, what now?"

"I want you to tell me what you know about Bonnie. Bonnie….is Qetsiyah's descendant."

Her mouth fell open, and her brain filled with thoughts of the ways the descendant of the woman who had imprisoned Silas in the first place could possibly stop this from happening. "Um. She's a witch. Rebekah told me. She's this powerful witch. Is she powerful like Qetsiyah?"

"What else do you know?" It's been months since He last hypnotized Bonnie. No doubt, some changes had happened in her life.

"Uh. Something happened today. I'm not sure what. After she questioned me, she went to the bathroom. She never came back. I don't know what happened, but we were blowing up these balloons, and all of a sudden, while she was gone, _all_ of them popped. At the same time. Tyler ran out of the room right then, like….he sprinted."

"Lockwood."

"Yes. And then Elena Gilbert and Caroline Forbes ran, too. It took them a while to come back, like almost an hour. I tried to follow, but I wasn't sure which direction they went, and I didn't want to risk running into them on their way back. But Elena and Caroline eventually came back. Bonnie and Tyler didn't, and I had to leave because the activity bus was leaving."

"Bonnie and Tyler," He thought out loud. "Something's going on with them. Bonnie's distracted. She's taking too long. She should be-"

He closed his eyes. Why the hell hadn't He guessed it before now?

"I don't think they're dating," April tried. "Caroline's his girlfriend."

"No, she's helping him. He found a real witch." He's been so focused on ensnaring April since Hayley died that He'd forgotten about what Tyler was trying to do.

April waited for Him to say more, and she was rewarded.

"Bonnie is the key to my release. She's Qetsiyah's descendant, that makes her the _only_ supernatural entity able to get near my grave. She's blood."

"How are we going to get her to help?"

"We are going to give her a reason to want me alive. We're going to merge her distraction with our interest."

* * *

Tyler opened the front door, and he looked the freshest that Bonnie had ever seen him. He looked brand new, like he'd been bathed by the Gods. He looked brighter than everything else surrounding him. He was wearing a gorgeous beige Henley with dark navy pants and black shoes. Her mood lifted a smidge at the sight of him. She almost wished she'd put more thought into what she was wearing. She'd meant to on the drive home from school. Then she'd spoken to her family.

"Hi," Tyler greeted beautifully.

She smiled. "Hi."

He stared at her a moment and then remembered himself. "Come in. Caroline's already here," he said as she crossed the threshold.

Bonnie almost fell sideways as she lifted her foot to take the next step. She lifted her eyes to the ceiling. She'd forgotten what the circumstances of this meeting had morphed into. She turned to Tyler and readjusted the small brown and light pink backpack slung on her left shoulder, "Where are we meeting?"

"Uh, the game room." He felt like he was going to run out of the little breath he had now that he was in her presence. His powers have been out of whack since he got home. His claws kept coming out, his body temperature was a lot higher than what was normal for a werewolf, whiskers appeared and disappeared on his face at a moment's notice, and when he'd been telling his mother about the two guests coming over, his face had shifted. He'd been seeing through the eyes of a Hybrid until ten minutes before Caroline's arrival. He couldn't control any of it, and he was sure that it was a side effect of drinking Bonnie's magical blood.

Carol Lockwood walked into the foyer in search of Tyler. "Tyler?"

"Yes, mom?" he answered from behind Bonnie.

"Uh, would you like brain food for the girls?"

"Uh, no. Unless you want something, Bonnie?" he amended as he came to stand beside her.

"I actually am hungry," Bonnie said. "I'll take a snack or something. Can I have some water, too?"

"Sure. Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Bonnie and Tyler looked at each other when they realized that Carol was talking to Bonnie. "Sure," Bonnie answered. She followed the mayor to the kitchen.

Tyler remained in the foyer and wondered what the heck his mother could possibly have to say to Bonnie.

In the kitchen, Carol took out a sleek silver serving tray. "How do sandwiches sound?"

"Good."

"Nothing fancy, just black forest ham and cheese. Maybe some lettuce and mayo. Tyler likes his mayo. You look….very beautiful, Bonnie."

"Um, thank you."

"I mean it. You're glowing. You pop," she said, gesturing at her own face.

Bonnie smiled. "Thank you."

Carol's smile was a little tight, her eyes waiting to say something. She took a deep breath and sharply released it. "I know why you're here. I know that….Tyler is planning to….make an attempt on Klaus' life. I don't know how I feel about it. I'm back and forth and up and down. I think about it right before I fall asleep, and I am so proud of him for even attempting. I think about it in the middle of the day at work, and I just want him to leave well enough alone. Klaus is….a burden. But there is no risk to Tyler if he's alive. I know it's not the best situation for him, but it is the situation. If he attempts this, he could die. He thinks you can help him."

"I can," Bonnie confirmed sympathetically. She was also positive that Tyler had never told his mother just how much of a monster Klaus was.

"I don't want to come out on the other side of this thinking that he should've left it alone. Klaus is a thousand years old," she whispered. "And Tyler's about to graduate….He was talking about burying himself alive on Christmas Eve," she whispered.

"Mrs. Lockwood, I promise you that this will work. Tyler will be free, and he'll be able to move however he wants, do whatever he wants."

"I don't want to just throw you at his problems," Carol said.

Bonnie smiled. It didn't reach her eyes. She wanted to add the _but_ for Carol. _I don't want to just throw you at his problems, but….if you're his way out….._She swallowed. She couldn't throw herself at her own problems because people might get hurt, but she was free to throw herself at someone else's. The universe was grand.

"I promise you he will come out of this."

Carol nodded, though worry still played on her face. "I'll bring the sandwiches and your water," she said, and she got to work.

Bonnie nodded and went back to the foyer.

"What happened?" Tyler asked when she got close enough.

"She wanted to make sure that I can save you," she reported. "Where's the game room?"

"Uh, it's this way." Tyler looked in the direction of the kitchen and then glanced at her before he lead her to the game room. He hoped that his mother hadn't made any demands or warned Bonnie about keeping him safe or anything annoying like that. Bonnie looked different: not the girl who'd been smiling at him at the door.

Tyler considered the game room more _his room _than his bedroom. His parents had gifted it to him on his fifteenth birthday, and he'd taken an immediate interest in decorating it. The room was always neat, the carpet a plush dark brown; there were posters of his favorite version of the Halo, NBA, Madden, Call of Duty, and Assassin's Creed games as well as posters of his three favorite movies: _Blade_, _The Matrix_, and _300_.

He'd planned on expanding the room when he turned seventeen, but by the time that birthday had come around, he'd been dealing with being sired to an asshole. His eighteenth birthday was at the end of March. He hadn't seriously thought about expanding the room in a long time, but as he'd been preparing it for the girls' arrival today, he'd promised himself that if he managed to kill Klaus, he would create a game room in his future apartment.

The game room was where he did most of his drawings. It was where he and Matt used to get high when his parents weren't home. And now he unnecessarily thought about formally giving Bonnie a place in the room by making her orgasm in it the exact same way he'd done in the bathroom earlier.

He cleared his throat to change the course of his thoughts.

"Hey," Bonnie said in greeting to Caroline, who was already seated around a coffee table in the back right corner of the room.

"Hi. Oh."

"What?" Bonnie asked.

"Nothing," she shook her head. "You just look very pretty."

"Oh. Thanks," she said with a small smile.

Caroline watched them approach and realized how the seats were arranged. She got up, hoped it looked casual, and sat in one of the two chairs facing the seat she'd been in, leaving Bonnie to take the seat against the wall and face her and Tyler.

Bonnie took the seat and opened her backpack to retrieve her notebook. She took a pen out of a smaller pocket.

"My mom's gonna bring us sandwiches," Tyler informed Caroline.

"Oh, cool."

A knocked sounded at the door and Carol walked in carrying the silver tray. It was topped with three tall glasses of water. She passed the glasses around, starting with Bonnie.

"You're very good at that," Caroline commented as she watched the way she balanced the tray on one hand.

"I was a waitress a long, long time ago," she said with a smile. "I'll be back with the food."

"Thanks, mom," Tyler said.

"Thank you," Bonnie and Caroline said in unison.

"Okay," Bonnie said officially. "So about this afternoon. Remember when you asked how long we can run around Klaus before he suspected something? Well, I've got the answer for you. He had his hand around my throat and literally said that something stinks. I told him about Kol's attack, and he of course saw that as no reason for me to have killed him. He said he's going to think about whether or not he's going to sic Kol on me after Silas brings him back, so he's at least going for the whole Silas angle."

Tyler frowned. She was speaking like a bored DMV employee.

"There was a fight," she sighed. "I was choked, like I said; I was thrown; I got my powers back, and he promised to skewer me with the sword if Silas doesn't come through and wake Kol. He asked to keep the sword, because he didn't want to be a complete loser in the situation."

Caroline surreptitiously looked at Tyler, and he returned her look. That last comment was way too flippant for Bonnie.

"I told him that I divined for the sword and killed his two vampire guards, and that's why I have it."

"Hold on a second, did he ask any questions?" Tyler inquired, wanting to know if Klaus had asked about the trap he'd set in the storage unit.

"No. He was just a little….skeptical about me being able to take out two 17th century vampires, which I don't even know if that means they were _turned_ in the 17th century or if they just _lived_ in the-well I guess it's the same thing. It could mean they've been alive for seventeen centuries, but whatever. My point is this is barely holding up anymore, which is why he needs to die by Monday. Now here's what we're interested in: the sword affected him. It wasn't instantaneous like with Stefan, but it burned his hand. Not bad enough to hurt, 'cause he's Klaus, but it hurt him enough to where he needed to heal. So, getting to my idea: we need to make Klaus hurtable," Bonnie said.

"How?" Caroline asked.

"By isolating the one thing holding him together: the doppelganger blood."

"Um," Caroline drawled.

"You need Elena's blood," Tyler clarified.

"I need Klaus' blood." At the look on Tyler's face, she explained, "Using Elena's blood makes it something completely different. I need blood that has doppelganger, werewolf, and vampire. That's Klaus."

"That's me," Tyler disagreed. "Can't you just use me?"

"I could, but there's the risk of it not working. The best way to come as close to it working one hundred percent as possible is to do it directly on Klaus' blood."

"And what about the one hundred percent possibility that it'll affect Tyler and his Hybrids?" Caroline asked. "Klaus is their sire. Killing Finn killed his line-" Her eyes widened. "Oh my God. Is Kol's line dying right now? You killed him."

"That sword had no trace of white oak," Bonnie said. "As far as I know. I don't think his line was affected, especially considering the way he died. I didn't even aim for the heart."

"But you can't know for sure."

"Should I have laid down and let him kill me, Caroline?"

"That's not what I meant. I'm just….never mind. Back to Tyler. How are you gonna make sure this doesn't affect him?"

Tyler gave Caroline a sidelong look. Bonnie wasn't contracted to offer her services.

"By doing it," Bonnie said slowly, "On Klaus' blood. His name is in the spell. It's, in effect, a curse," she said to Tyler. "Like the one I did on Rebekah. I want to isolate the doppelganger blood, get rid of it. And do you remember what happened to the Hybrids who _didn't _have Elena's blood?" she asked with a self-satisfied smirk.

Tyler smiled. "They were poisoned. The werewolf blood mixed badly with the vampire blood."

"You're going to poison him with his own blood," Caroline said softly. She'd thought it was going to be some quick ordeal. She's been thinking about Klaus dying since Bonnie, Stefan, and Damon went to see him earlier. She'd wondered how great it would be if they came back and said that Bonnie had run him through with the sword the way she'd done Kol. Danger to their lives averted, and no one pays for Kol's death.

Now she was listening to how exactly it was going to be done, and while she still supported Tyler and still thought Klaus was absolutely horrible to him and to most people, she didn't feel the same fear-driven hope from earlier. Something was happening between Tyler and Bonnie, and she didn't know how it was all going to settle. She hoped to at least have one last conversation with Klaus before it all went down. She could just imagine how he would look at her if she happened to be there when it happened: that same hurt and betrayed look he usually gave her when he realized that she was tricking him, and while she always not-so-secretly relished one-upping him in those moments, this one would be final.

She remembered the conversation with Stefan, wherein she'd learned that she wasn't the only one who saw a different side to Klaus. Did he deserve to die thinking _no one_ saw anything worthwhile in him? His father tried to kill him, and that was after he conspired with his mother to kill him a first time; and then his mother came back to do it a final time. His sister hated him; she doubted Kol cared, and she wasn't sure how much of a difference Elijah made. Stefan hated him; his Hybrids are trying to get away from him, and absolutely no one that he knows wants him to stay in Mystic Falls. He existed in a world where he didn't have a single friend.

And while she sometimes hated him, too, and saw all of the reasons for everyone else to hate him, that was just it: she only sometimes hated him. Klaus had gone from being a nobody in her world, even after he'd had her kidnapped as a decoy for the sacrifice, to the terror who had killed Tyler and forced him to poison her, to the weird complication who had saved her life, wished her happy birthday, and sent her a complete outfit for the ball his mother was throwing, to the….kind of….intriguing and hot and rich and worldly and cute and powerful complication who couldn't stop trying to talk to her and selling his merits to her and _thinking _about her future and what was best for her and what she'd like and what she wanted.

He was even starting to apologize to her for the things he did to others. And she could hurt him. Not physically, but she has actually hurt his feelings before and disappointed him, and _that_ influence over the person whom so many feared was one of the things that had been threatening to seduce her. His words and promises and attention were great, flattering, and she always replayed them over in her head, but her ability to wipe a smile off his face….it felt great to throw him off kilter, especially considering how often he did or threatened to do the same to her. She wasn't interested in trying to one-up him physically. That had never been her forte, even before she'd become a vampire.

Klaus could die. The world would be better off. She'd celebrated his demise once before when he'd gotten desiccated. She could do it again. But a part of her wanted just a little more time to swallow what was coming, because this one felt final.

Tyler brought her back to the conversation at hand when he said, "It's perfect."

"The thing is that I don't know if Klaus will react the same way. He does have the whole Original vampire thing going on, which was what helped Rebekah survive your poison. His blood could constantly heal him so that the poison never affects him. Which is what step two deflects: I need something personal of his so that I can curse his blood to _make _the poison work. Which is where _your _blood comes in, Ty."

Tyler wiped his face. This was so complicated. First he needed to steal Klaus' blood somehow and now he needed to steal a personal item, too.

"Hey, I still have that drawing he gave me, the portrait," Caroline said, and this was news to Tyler. "Can we use that for a personal item? I mean, it came from him."

"You still have that?" Bonnie asked.

Carol knocked on the door, and Tyler told her to enter. "Here you go," she announced as she deposited the small plates in front of them.

"Thank you," Bonnie said.

"Thanks," Tyler and Caroline echoed.

"You're welcome," Carol returned.

"I still have the bracelet, too," Caroline added after Carol shut the door. "Either works."

"_Maybe_. Um, these need to be clean. How long have you had them for now?"

"Uh, probably a year now, maybe a little less, maybe a little more."

Bonnie closed her eyes. "They won't work."

"Why not?" Caroline asked.

"Psychic energy. If you….attach….any emotions to those things, then they're yours, not his."

Taken off guard, Caroline looked at Tyler, who kept his focus on Bonnie but was biting the inside of his mouth. Clearly, he understood the implication of Bonnie's statement and that annoyed Caroline. "Who says I attach any emotions to them?" she asked Bonnie.

"Not me," Bonnie answered. "That's what I'm asking. You said you still have them."

"Yeah, in my _closet_."

"Did you _like_ them?" Bonnie questioned.

"_Excuse_ you?"

"It doesn't matter," Bonnie decided. "The point is that those things have been in _your _room for over a year. Think of all the emotions you bring to your room: happiness, exhaustion, excitement, anger, emotions about Tyler, about your mom, about everyone in your life-"

"So it won't work," Tyler cut her off, an edge to his voice. He hadn't thought about that ugly drawing since maybe a week after he saw it. _Why _would Caroline still have it? And the bracelet? Did she still have the dress, too? He was completely annoyed, and he hadn't known that Caroline had told the other girls about Klaus' gifts.

"It won't," Bonnie confirmed. "That's psychic energy. It touches everything that belongs to you, or….that has been with you long enough. That's why casting a spell on someone's belongings works."

Caroline straightened her spine.

"What about the other painting he did?" Tyler asked. "The one he donated at the Christmas Eve Festival. What if it hasn't gone out yet?"

"Miss Mystic Falls would know that," Caroline shared.

"Who's-April," Tyler remembered.

"She's in charge of most of the charity drives now," Caroline said.

"If we can isolate April, I can get in her mind and retrieve the information without us having to ask her, and she won't remember what I took from her. Remember what we did to Luka?" Bonnie asked Caroline.

Caroline racked her brain trying to remember the name.

"Bonnie, can I talk to you for a second?" Tyler asked. He stood and waited for her.

"Sure," Bonnie answered. "We'll be back," she said to Caroline when it looked like Tyler was going to leave the room without excusing them.

Caroline sat alone, wondering what the hell just happened. They were about to have a two-people powwow in the middle of a three-people meeting?

Bonnie followed Tyler to the foyer and joined him on the first step of the staircase. "What's up?"

"This information retrieval thing: is it a spell?"

"It's more of a ritual. I don't chant. I just need to concentrate, andit calls for me to rely on fire and water."

"You just got your powers back. Are you sure you can do this?"

"I'm pretty sure. I'll be fine, Tyler," she said with a reassuring smile.

"And the rest?"

"Separating the blood is going to be hardest part, but I'll be fine."

"Maybe we shouldn't try to do all of this over the weekend. You _just _got your powers back," he repeated when she opened her mouth to protest. "Are they even at full capacity yet? Wouldn't they be a little weaker from Silas tapping into them?"

"Tyler, I don't fail at these things. I just don't."

"That's not an answer to the question I asked. I need you to be straight with me," he said. "You said witches burn out when they use too much, and you've used your powers a lot lately. You did a big curse on Rebekah, and then Silas _attacked_ you. I don't want you taking unnecessary risks."

"_Nothing _is unnecessary right now. Klaus has that sword, and your pack is living with him. If he figures _anything _out, they're in immediate danger. I know what you're worried about, but we don't have a choice," she pled. She shook her head and tucked her hair behind her right ear.

"What's wrong?" Tyler asked.

"Nothing," she answered miserably without meeting his eyes. When she looked up, he was searching her face. She lowered her voice even more and said, "It's nothing I can talk about right now." She touched her ear and pointed in the direction of the game room.

Tyler cupped her left cheek. "Are you okay?" If Caroline was listening, there would be no mistaking the investment in his voice.

Bonnie shook her head in the negative. "But it's fine," she said as she removed his hand from her face. "Let's just get through this."

Tyler frowned when her eyes changed color. "Bonnie. Do you feel that?" he asked quietly. He rubbed the outer corner of her left eye with his thumb.

"What?" Bonnie asked.

"Your eyes: they're like a werewolf's."

Just like that, the color disappeared.

Bonnie smiled. "I know. I saw it earlier. I think it's…" she lifted her eyebrows and let him fill in the blank.

"Do you see differently when it happens?"

"No. I see like I always see."

Tyler mouthed _later_. He wiped the corner of her eye again, and then he traced his thumb over her bottom lip. No gloss, just chapstick.

Bonnie nodded.

Caroline remained quiet when they returned.

"Sorry," Tyler said as he sat down.

Caroline folded her lips. "How exactly are we going to get Klaus to bleed?" she asked Bonnie with more than a little attitude.

Bonnie reached into the big pocket of her backpack and pulled out a folded item. She unveiled a five-inch steak knife in the middle of the table. "With this." She reached into the same pocket from which she'd pulled out the pen and pulled out another item, this one heavily wrapped with paper towels. She revealed a small box that once held a new pair of earrings. She uncovered it and showed them the white oak that she had scraped off the stake. "And this. I just need to marry them." She flipped the notebook to the correct spell. She needed to transfer these new spells to her personal Grimoire. She could do that tonight.

"You came up with all of this over the weekend?" Tyler asked.

"I wrote this spell over the weekend. Isolating Klaus' blood and poisoning him, I thought up on Monday and wrote the spells Tuesday through yesterday. I think up this stuff to put myself to sleep, Ty. It's my lullaby." She smiled.

"Prodigy," Tyler said with a smile of his own.

"You need better lullabies," Caroline commented. "Not that your current choice doesn't save our butts on a daily basis."

Bonnie blinked at her, her smile freezing a little. "I don't disagree. But I don't have the luxury of having better lullabies."

Caroline stretched the corners of her mouth in opposite directions.

Tyler acted like he didn't notice what was going on. "Before I use the knife, we need to take care of everything else first. Because once I stab Klaus, that's it; everything's out in the open. We need to make sure that painting's still around, and we need to get our hands on it. If it's gone, then I need to talk to the others about stealing something _from Klaus' bedroom_. I have to talk to them anyways to tell them that this is happening soon."

"Does Klaus even _own_ personal things?" Caroline wondered.

"I think you're talking about his family," Tyler said. "Biggest pieces of property he owns. After that would be, what, the coffins he holds them in?" he guessed.

"God," Caroline sighed.

"We're gonna need something a little smaller than coffins if that painting doesn't come through," Bonnie said, though she knew that Tyler wasn't serious about taking the coffins. "Does he have any others lying around?"

"He doesn't paint just because," Tyler answered. "But those brushes, though," he murmurred.

"Those would be important to him," Caroline said with certainty.

"Okay, so we're going to talk to April. That is, if you're up for it," she said to Caroline.

"I am."

"So I'm spelling the knife so you have it on hand. As soon as we get an answer out of April, and if it's a green light, we'll text you."

Tyler nodded. He needed to ask Bonnie for a favor. The timing was horrible, considering his worry about her use of magic right now, but the request was imperative.

Bonnie moved her plate to the carpet. "Clear the table. I'm making it special for you, Ty," she informed him after they did what she asked. "So that the white oak won't hurt you. If someone from the pack uses it, then..."

"It'll be me," Tyler assured her.

Bonnie nodded. "Hold your hand out on the table and open your palm."

Tyler could tell by the care she took in placing the knife on his palm that the spell had already started.

Bonnie held the knife at both ends while it rested in his hand. She closed her eyes and chanted evenly, "_Phasmatos salvis. Phasmatos salvis. Phasmatos salvis._" She moved on of her hands to hold Tyler's wrist and resumed chanting. "_Phasmatos salvis. Phasmatos salvis. Phasmatos salvis._"

She opened her eyes and slowly lifted the box of ash. She loosely sprinkled most of it on the blade. Tyler hissed as soon as the ash touched his palm. The substance started to burn through his skin. He closed his eyes and flexed the muscles in his arm to endure the pain and waited on Bonnie.

When Bonnie first started teaching herself the spells in Emily's Grimoire, she had imagined the spirits whom she frequently called on to be just like Emily: dead witches. Now she knew that she was speaking to entities far greater: pure magic.

She felt the same rush of adrenaline from this afternoon and opened eyes the beautiful bright yellow of legrandite and chanted faster, ignoring the deteriorating state of Tyler's palm where the ash touched it. "_Creatio, et contritio, quercus alba cinis. Creatio, et contritio, homo factus est enim, ut perveniat ad hibrida cutem. Phasmatos tribum, duo simul hasce nova creatura. Quo modo ad secandum manu telum formatur._"

She closed his palm tight over the sword, and Tyler's pain increased as lacerations appeared on his palm and he bled out. He gritted his teeth and grunted through it, and Caroline placed her hands on his bicep and shoulder.

"_Hoc ferrum latus sanguinare,_" Bonnie finished gravely.

Tyler's pain soon ceased.

Bonnie's arms tingled, and the sensation spread to her entire body. She stood abruptly and paced away. She wiped her hands on her face and inhaled.

"What's wrong?" Caroline asked. "Is this part of the spell?"

"No, I'm just...I just need to move." She shook her hands at her side. "I'm just feeling restless, like I need to use my powers." She paced to the couch.

Tyler opened his hand and looked at the knife. The blade was the same color as the dagger Bonnie and Matt had plunged into Rebekah, only this one had spots of rustic red burned into it: his blood. The lacerations in his palm were gradually fading.

Bonnie opened her palms and created fire. She brought her hands together and formed a ball and made it grow.

"Is this some kind of adverse effect?" Caroline asked as she cautiously stood up.

Tyler stood and watched.

"I just need to get it out."

Caroline thought that she sounded a little like a drug addict, but she kept the thought to herself.

Bonnie had seen her eyes change color when she'd stepped out of the shower and stared forlornly at her herself in the mirror. It had brought a smile to her face, because she'd known immediately that it was the effect of Tyler's blood in her system. She'd realized that the blood was why she'd felt so amazing after leaving the bathroom at school. She had tried to bring the color back after it had faded, but she'd been unlucky.

"Bonnie?" Tyler asked.

"I'm fine," she said while looking at the now violent ball of fire. She closed her eyes and enjoyed it, a smile playing on her lips. She felt even more amazing than she had at school. Her body felt like it did the day she'd desiccated Klaus. Her magic felt clean, like it flowed through her without any barriers.

Tyler thought about going to her, but he worried about what might happen if he touched her, especially considering how he'd been reacting less than an hour ago. Besides, she wasn't in pain. She actually looked like she was enjoying herself and didn't care that he and Caroline were in the room.

Bonnie moved one of her hands above the ball and snapped her hands closed. It extinguished and hot smoke floated in front of her. She stepped back and swatted it. It spread to the room and gradually made it hotter. "I'm fine," she exhaled. "Okay," she said with a clap of her hands, "How does it feel?" she asked Tyler, her eyes back to normal.

"Um." He looked down at the knife and stopped. This was what he was going to stab Klaus with. He was going to stab Klaus and expose everything he was planning. He was going to have to deal with Klaus _knowing _that he wanted to kill him.

"What is it?" Caroline asked.

"This is really going to happen," he said. He swallowed and looked at Caroline.

"We're gonna be with you the whole way," she assured him.

He inhaled deeply and let it go. "So this all goes down on site, right?" he asked Bonnie. "I stab him, and then you do the spells?"

"I've been trying to figure that part out, and I think I just did. I need to be there when you do it. I need to isolate him, seal him in, and then I'll be able to do the spells."

"_Another _spell," Tyler pointed out.

"It's all necessary, Tyler," Bonnie reminded him. "So it starts tomorrow. Do you know where April lives, because I don't," she said to Caroline.

"We can find that out in Founders Hall. She might even be there. The offices are closed on the weekends, but the east wing is sometimes open on Saturdays. She might be there, planning volunteer activities for spring and summer."

"I can't do that spell in a room where anyone could walk in, so we need to lure her. So I'll pick you up?"

"Of course," Caroline answered with a pageant smile.

"Great, then I guess I should go. Do you have any questions?" she asked Tyler.

"Not yet."

"Call me with anything you think of." She walked to the table and packed up the box that once held the ash, and she put away the notebook and pen. Lastly, she picked her plate off the floor. "I'm gonna ask your mom to pack this."

"Thank you, Bonnie," Tyler said.

She turned and looked at him. Smiling, she replied, "You're welcome."

He swallowed and examined the knife again. "Would it be bad if I put it under my pillow?"

"I don't think so?" Bonnie answered. "But then again, I wouldn't sleep with a weapon under my pillow."

"Nah, just under your bed." His smile disappeared when what he'd just said quickly played back in his ears. He looked at Caroline and then looked at the knife.

The silence seemed to stretch for far too long, but maybe that was just him and Bonnie. Bonnie congratulated herself for not looking at Caroline, who _did _look at her, but maybe she should've resumed packing her stuff instead of lowering her eyes.

"Sounds like fun," Caroline commented with a dry smile.

Bonnie turned to the table and slung the backpack over her right shoulder and grabbed the plate.

"I'm gonna go put this up, and then I'll walk you outside," Tyler said and turned to leave.

"Oh no, I can do that," Caroline said as she swatted his offer down. "You put that up, and, uh, if I'm not back yet you can pick out a couple of movies for us to watch before we go to bed?"

Tyler half turned and stared at her, careful to keep his mouth closed.

Now _this _bout of silence definitely stretched a few seconds too long. Caroline kept her eyes on Tyler, and he kept his on her, because he did _not _want to know how Bonnie was looking.

_Bonnie _was the most surprised person in the room. She wasn't mad, not after everything Tyler had said and done with her earlier. She just…..might have some questions. And might be a little jealous. She didn't think that she wanted anything from Tyler, certainly not a relationship, but he'd said more than a couple of things to her, and he'd acted in certain ways, and if he was going to have Caroline sleeping over or…..doing anything else, then questions were going to creep up in her mind.

"Okay, then," she stated evenly.

"Sure," Tyler said. He walked out of the room, aware of every step he took.

Bonnie found Carol and got her sandwich wrapped and then met Caroline at the front door.

The taller girl opened the door for her, and she stepped out. Caroline walked her all the way to the car. Bonnie took out her key and unlocked the door. She threw her backpack to the passenger seat. She then turned to Caroline, who had her arms crossed, and asked, "I'll pick you up tomorrow at like 10?"

"Sure. I'll be right here," Caroline emphasized.

"Right. Good night."

"Night."

* * *

When Caroline stepped inside, Tyler was coming down the stairs. He walked to the middle of the foyer and put his hands in his pockets.

"Ready for the movies?" she asked.

"Yeah. I just need you to know that I'm gonna go to Bonnie's house at some point."

"Tonight?"

"Yeah."

"She was just here."

"I need to talk to her about something, something….private."

"Private? And you need to be in her house to do this? You could've just stepped aside to tell her while she was here, like, oh I don't know, when you took her out of the room earlier?"

"It's something private about _Bonnie_," he clarified as he leaned into her, "Not me."

"Right."

"She wouldn't have talked about it here," he explained, and he was ready to end this line of conversation.

"Because you know her so well now. What else do you know about Bonnie's privates, Tyler?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry. I meant private _affairs_."

Tyler stared at her a moment and then he turned to head back upstairs.

"You lied to me," she said succinctly.

Tyler turned around.

"You told me earlier that you took an eternity to come back to the gym because you and Bonnie were _talking _about how the visit with Klaus had gone. But she comes over tonight and recaps the whole thing like you'd never heard a word of it."

Tyler calmly looked at her.

"Say something!" she snapped. "You were _with _her. You were….you were sleeping with her. Weren't you?"

Tyler's confirmation came in the form of a swallow.

"This is amazing. This is….this is _great_. I could barely get you to _look _at me after Rebekah attacked, but you ask for 'space' and then have sex with _Bonnie _after Kol attacks? At school? Are you serious?!"

"Can we not talk about this out here?" Tyler asked calmly

"Why, you don't want your mom to know her little boy's a lying, cheating creep?"

Tyler left her and walked into the game room. She followed and when she shut the door behind her, he said, "We're not working, Caroline."

"Did you realize this before or after Bonnie showed you her vagina?"

"No, I realized it after my friend died, and you didn't give a shit," he spat. "This has nothing to do with Bonnie. It's us. It's me; it's you."

"Are you serious? That was….Tyler, I'm sorry I mis-reacted, but I feel like….I've known Elena my whole life; I'm sorry I didn't immediately think of….of him-"

"Chris. His _name _was Chris."

"I met him once!" she protested.

"He was important to me! Have you never wondered why you didn't know what me and Hayley were planning until after the fact? Why I didn't let you in from the very beginning? Because I have. We haven't been working for a while, maybe even before Chris."

"So let me get this straight, Bonnie cares about Chris? You do realize you're her charity case."

"Oh, am I?"

"This is what she does! What do you and Jeremy have in common? You're both weak little boys that she has to protect-"

"That's the second time you've called me a little boy. And I'm a charity case now, too?"

"You _know _what I mean. She has to save you. I guess she's like Elena that way. She's the _answer. _Regardless of what happened between me, you, and Chris, _notice _that nothing happened between _you_ two until she became the solution to your problem. Do you really think that's gonna last?"

"This has nothing to do with me and Bonnie. Whether or not-"

"Oh my God," Caroline said. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "The Festival. This has been going on since the Festival, hasn't it?"

"_No_." The lie was automatic. He's wanted Bonnie since the Festival, since after the fight really, but his mind denied her question for the simple reason that nothing had happened for a long time after that night. But this was no time to take it back. He's known since he'd watched over Bonnie after Silas' attack that if his interest in her ever came to light, if Caroline ever questioned anything, he'd have no interest in justifying it and especially not in the context of his relationship with Caroline. His issues with Caroline were separate.

"I can't believe you're doing this. I can't believe that after everything I've been through with you, after everything _we've _been through, after everything I've _done _for you, this is how you treat me? This is what you think I deserve? Look me in the face and tell me this is the treatment you think I deserve."

"This is not what you deserve."

"But you were gonna string me along anyway."

"This wasn't about stringing you along. I just-I honestly-"

He chose not to say it. Nothing good would come from him saying that he had more important things to worry about, and he would have spoken to her after everything settled.

"You're ruining us," she said.

"I'm not who I was when we first started."

"That's an understatement."

He wanted to tell her that she wasn't the same person either, but the words stuck in his throat.

"I can't believe this. I can't believe you're doing this. For _Bonnie_? What are you gonna do when she moves on? She's my _best _friend, Tyler. You couldn't have chosen literally _anyone _else?"

"We would have fallen apart whether Bonnie had come into the picture or not," he said quietly. "We were _already _falling apart." Something was settling heavily in his stomach.

"You're such a jerk," she said softly. "You are _such _a jerk." She left the room and headed upstairs.

Tyler inhaled. And didn't quite release it.

* * *

**A/N: **Sooo, nobody really guessed Tyler, lol. Both those who guessed Bonnie will get their turn soon.


	12. Chapter 12

**Suprise!**

**Part 12: Do You Want to Die, Bonnie?**

Tyler went to his room and grabbed the car keys as well as a different jacket from the one he'd worn to school. He and Caroline didn't exchange a word. She could have his bed. He was going to sleep in the game room tonight.

When he descended the stairs, Carol peeked out of the living room and caught him. "Is everything okay?" she asked quietly. "I heard yelling."

"Yeah, everything's great," Tyler answered as he slipped on the jacket. "I'm going to Bonnie's house. I'll be back."

Carol didn't get to respond, because he was on his way out the door. Bonnie was just here. Why was he going to her house?

* * *

Bonnie walked into her house and headed directly to the stairs without saying hi or making eye contact with any of the three people sitting in the living room and kitchen. She hoped that Abby and Lucy would be gone by tomorrow night, and she hoped that her dad would just drop the cure subject. They'd completely shut her down. She didn't want to talk to them.

When she'd left school earlier, she'd been thinking about going home, replaying the amazing time that she and Tyler had had in the bathroom while she showered, and, in the reality where Caroline hadn't invited herself, doing a little quicky after they were done working out all the business stuff at his house.

But no, it hadn't worked out that way. She'd come home to three dream-killers. Her life really sucked. It wasn't yet nine o'clock, but she was going to get in her pajamas and lie in bed and wait to fall asleep.

Unfortunately, someone knocked on her door.

"I don't wanna talk," she announced.

"That's too bad," replied her father's voice. "Open the door, Bonnie."

She exhaled laboriously and walked around her bed to open the door. "What is it?"

"We need to talk about what went on in Tyler Lockwood's house. I don't want to hear that you can't tell me, or that it's a secret, and I don't want half-truths. That's how we ended up with you going after a cure that can get you killed."

"I'm sorry, dad, but I can't tell you anything. Listen," she cut him off when he started to protest, "What I'm doing, I'm doing for Tyler, and we're so close. We've barely been getting away with keeping it a secret. I don't want to ruin it by running my mouth now. If you're lucky, if _we're _lucky, I'll be able to tell you everything on Monday. Maybe Tuesday. His safety is at risk."

"At least give me something," Rudy said slowly.

Bonnie inhaled deeply and released it steadily. "I'm gonna try to steal a painting tomorrow. After I invade a girl's mind to get the location." She stared at him.

Rudy tried in vain to make sense of what she'd just said. "Fine. Thank you."

"You're welcome." She grabbed the door to shut it.

"Bonnie, I know you're angry, but this is for your own good. Now, you think you have to find this cure for your mom because you'll be sad if you don't. I don't mean to downplay what you've been through. I know I wasn't there, and I cannot imagine-you know what, I think I can imagine it. I think I can imagine what it was like for you to essentially have your mother die in front of you. It's exactly how I would feel if I let you go through with this and ended up burying you. Abbie wants to get to know you. So do I, baby. I've missed out on a lot. Clearly, and it's time we put everything on the table. Life doesn't end if your mom stays a vampire. There's a lot of good that can come from it if you just….let it."

"I want to go to bed."

Rudy sighed. "I love you, Bonnie."

"I love you, too, dad. Can I please close the door?"

Rudy nodded.

Bonnie closed it and wished she hadn't heard a single word he'd said.

* * *

Tyler locked his car and walked up to Bonnie's house. He knocked on the door and waited. It took a little bit of time, but someone turned on the porch light, and Rudy opened the door after he moved the curtains aside to see who it was.

"Hi," Tyler greeted.

"Tyler. Hi," he replied and crossed his arms.

"I'm here to see Bonnie?"

"Bonnie's not available. She can't come to the door."

"Uh. Her car's parked right there," he said, turning his head slightly in the direction of her white Prius.

"I know, but she can't come to the door. You'll see her Monday at school."

"I need to talk to her about something important."

"She was just at your house. And you have a cell phone."

"I do. She was. But this is-I just need to talk to her. I swear it's important, sir."

Rudy observed him with a stern face. He was positive that this boy knew about Bonnie's dangerous goal. "Come inside. I'll get her."

Tyler slowly walked inside and closed the door behind him. Something was definitely wrong. He looked at the empty living room and waited for Bonnie.

Bonnie had to take off her sleepwear and get back in her regular clothes. She slipped her feet into flip-flops and went down to see Tyler.

Rudy continued past her room to the spare bedroom where Abby and Lucy had run to hide. "You all can't come out yet. He's still downstairs."

"Who is it?" Abby asked.

"Tyler Lockwood."

Abby frowned.

"Richard and Carol Lockwood's son?" Rudy helped her out.

"Oh. Oh, wow." She wondered what he looked like nowadays.

"What does he want?" Lucy asked.

"To talk to Bonnie about something important. Now, he's a Hybrid: a werewolf and a vampire, so stay as quiet as you can."

Lucy looked at Abby. Abby had filled her in on Klaus' status, Klaus whom she'd first learned about from Katherine, but it was still weird to know there was an actual werewolf slash _vampire _so close.

"Is she dating him?" Abby asked. "She's not dating him, is she?" Bonnie's point about barely knowing her even though they spent quite some time talking about the cure would be further highlighted if she'd had a boyfriend this whole time and she didn't know.

"She better not be," Rudy answered. "He has a girlfriend. I've seen them at the town events."

Lucy slowly turned her head in Abby's direction. She was pretty sure that this was the guy that Bonnie had wanted to show leg for.

"_Is_ she dating him?" Rudy asked Abby now. Maybe she knew, and he didn't.

"I dunno," Abby mumbled with a shake of her head. Now her thoughts aligned with Lucy's. If only Bonnie messing with another girl's boyfriend was their biggest problem.

* * *

Bonnie bobbed down the stairs and wondered where her mother and Lucy were. They'd been sitting in the living room when she'd come home.

"Is everything okay?" she asked as she walked up to Tyler.

"That's what I'm here to find out. Your dad wasn't going to let me see you until Monday. What's with the lockdown? Are you in trouble?"

It was hard for him to imagine Bonnie getting in trouble and being _grounded_. She always aimed to do the right thing, even though she could be overzealous about it. She was such a good person. It was weird to think that her father was upset with her.

"Um. We should talk outside. Let me grab a sweater."

"Use my jacket," he offered as he took it off. He held it open for her.

Bonnie hesitated, and then she turned around. He stepped closer and helped her put it on, and then she led him to the porch.

Tyler let her sit first, and she chose the spot she'd occupied the first time they'd sat on the swing bed. He reclaimed his spot and waited attentively for her to speak.

"My mom and Lucy are here. They told my dad everything."

"At least you don't have to lie to him anymore," he tried.

"Lucy received one of the swords. When she touched it, she had a vision of me summoning them, so she knew that I haven't been sitting on my hands. So she and my mom showed up here this afternoon, and…..I told them about Silas. About the attack last Thursday and how I believe it was Him. I told them about Kol's attack. I just wanted them to be prepared for what we might face in Israel."

"And?"

She sighed and looked out at the street. "They don't want me to do it. They've completely backed out. They're convinced that He's the one who kills me, even though Lucy didn't see anyone in her vision. And of course my dad backs them one hundred percent. They want me to let it go. Because it's _so _easy. It's just a cure, no big deal. My mom can just stay a vampire, and I'll move on with my life. She said she doesn't need it, that she'd rather me be alive."

Tyler moved closer to her and put his arm behind her on the seat. "I'd rather you be alive, too."

Bonnie shook her head.

"I know it's hard-"

"You have no idea. None of them have any idea."

He looked at her sad profile and decided to dive in. "I can help you get it. Bonnie, you've done a lot for me, and this is important to you. I can help you get it. I'll go with you to Israel, and we'll get it, and the rest….we'll figure out how to save you. We have to, Bon, you can't-you can't just _die _for this."

"Did you know that I tried to save Elena from becoming a vampire? I had _just_ saved Klaus that night. I wanted nothing more than to bury him and Elijah and that entire family. I _hated _every last one of them for what their freaking survival meant for my mother, and this guy, this…._monster _who came into our lives and disrupted everything….I had to save him. My mother died so that he could live, and I had to save him. I had to _think…._of a way….to _save_….the guy who when my mother was killed was able to go home and sleep with both eyes closed because he'd _won_ that night.

His spirit hadn't even settled in your body yet when I got the call from Stefan: _I need to tell you something that's….going to be a little hard for you to believe, but I need you to believe it. Elena's dead. Matt was driving her out of town when they got into a car accident and went off Wickery Bridge. She didn't make it, but she had Damon's blood in her system._

He let me digest it. I had to be the one to ask if she was in transition. She was."

She smiled and then dissolved into a chuckle."Elena. My mom just died….so that she could live. I just saved Klaus. So that my mom could live, so that Caroline could live, so that _you all _could live. But somehow….there she was in a _morgue_…._becoming _a vampire. I didn't understand. I didn't understand why, in the grand scheme of things, this couldn't have happened first. Why couldn't she have died with blood in her system _first_? That way no one would think to touch my mom or me."

She stayed silent for a long stretch of time as she thought back to that night. It had been hard to imagine the sun ever coming up again. And when she'd woken up the next day and seen it, she'd wished it had stayed away.

"He asked me if there was anything, anything at all I could do to….save her somehow. My answer was yes. My answer's always yes, because the answer is always yes. I had no idea how I was going to do it. I didn't even know if it was possible, but I said yes, and that was enough for him. I don't remember how I got home that night. I woke up in the same clothes. I didn't think. I was trying to figure it out how to save her, but I wasn't thinking. I wasn't feeling. Which you've already pinned about me." She smiled, but she still didn't look at him.

"I figured out what I was going to do, and I called Jeremy. I was going to need an anchor. And someone to channel. I was going to kill myself." She let that sit for a couple of seconds. "I was going to stop my heart. I was going to die for a little bit-"

"For Elena?" Tyler asked incredulously.

Bonnie looked at him. He was keeping himself way too still. She saw it right there in his eyes: he cared about her way too much.

"For Elena?" he repeated.

"Yes," she answered.

Tyler swallowed.

"Jeremy went crazy," she chuckled as she faced forward again. "He always went crazy," she murmured. "He hated me doing stuff like that, and this time was no exception. He said there was another way. I don't coddle myself into thinking things will be easy, Tyler. There's nothing delicate about magic, not in those situations. So looking for other ways is just….delaying the inevitable. I was going to channel the earth directly, just like I did the night I killed Dylan. I had this theory, and that's just what it was: a theory. It wasn't even a full plan. The plan would come after I saw what I hoped to see. I was going to go to the other side to see if I could find Elena's human spirit. After that? I still don't know.

I wasn't thinking, Tyler. I don't know if you've had those moments when there's just no _thought_ in your head. Your brain is just quiet. Or paralyzed."

"Yeah," he answered. "Yes."

"I had the spell. It was in my mom's Grimoire, of all places. I grabbed Jeremy's hands. I was ready to do the spell. He said, _you don't have to do this_. I closed my eyes and channeled him. I started the spell and channeled the earth. I felt grounded in this amazing way. I was saying the words, and it was hard. It suddenly got hard, and suddenly being grounded felt like being weighed down. I was bleeding. I was dying.

My heart hurt. It was beating hard, and it was like….it was like it took way too much out of it to pull off one beat. I just had one more word to go. One more, and I would be….And suddenly my brain woke up. Why did a spell like this exist? Why did my mom create it? Why was I doing this? Would it work? What if it worked?

What if it worked? Who would know? It _hurt _to breathe. But if it worked….who would know? Who would ask? Jeremy would know, but….we get so busy. Our lives….he's my friend, but we get separated. Elena would say thank you when I saw her, and I would be the one who goes to see her; I always am. She would say thank you. And I would hug her. And no one besides Jeremy would know I died."

"I reversed the spell," she murmured as tears rolled down her cheeks. "The spell wasn't complete, but I had said enough to warrant a reversal. I was stuck with a heart….that couldn't beat properly. So I reversed it. I let go of the earth. And I just wish it would've at least knocked me unconscious. Jeremy held me. I didn't cry. I couldn't. I still haven't. Though, I guess I cried the day that we ended up, uh….."

"I told Stefan that I couldn't do it, that there was no answer. I apologized." Her nose tickled. "I apologized. I made a daylight ring for Elena. I gave it to Stefan. I saw her….two weeks later. I was going to Whitmore, and, um, she wanted to come to practice being a vampire in public or something. I asked her how she was doing. She thanked me for the ring. We didn't hug. I couldn't bring myself to do it."

She wiped her cheeks and covered her mouth as more tears flowed. She wiped them and said, "My parents don't know that. Lucy doesn't know that. They don't know what _living my life_ means. I want the _cure_. I want to fix _something_. I apologized to Stefan, because I didn't _die_."

Tyler forced himself to speak. "Do you want to die? Are you helping me, and then after-you just wanna die? Is that-is that your perfect ending?"

He sounded like she was betraying him. He cared about her way too much. He was crying.

"Bonnie-"

"Tyler…."

"You wanna die. You want to die. You-"

"I want everything," she cried. "I don't want an ultimatum. I don't want either or. My mom wants to get to know me, and my dad wants things to be better between us. I want those things, too. But I don't want a trade. I want the cure, and I want my mom to be a witch again. I want to fix that night. I was so shocked that I couldn't even fight to save my mom. I want to _fix _that. And then I want to graduate, and then I want to get to know my mom and rebuild my relationship with my dad. I want to _keep something_. And I want this to be it.

But this can't be it, because my choice is to either _die _or live without what I want. Those are my choices. Those are my choices. It doesn't matter whether or not I _want_ to die, Ty, I've been trying to tell you that. It's _there_. Wanting something else _doesn't _make a difference," she said harshly.

Tyler reached across to touch her left arm with his other hand. He rested his forehead against her temple and closed his eyes. "We'll figure something out."

Bonnie closed her eyes and her tears rolled down. She leaned against him, and he pulled her closer. She tucked her head under his chin. "Just let it go, Ty. Leave it alone. I'm tired. We don't need to figure anything out."

"I'm gonna talk to your mom," he promised as he rubbed her arm. He sniffed. "I'm gonna talk to all of them."

"We're gonna focus on Klaus," she countered.

He chose not to argue with her.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I apologize for not updating last week or over the weekend. My computer's giving me trouble, and it was very hard to edit. But I'm at work right now (shhh), so I did it without a hitch. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

******Part 13: The Alpha**

Bonnie stayed in his embrace until she got her mind back to the place where none of it mattered. She squashed down her disappointment because it wasn't going to get her anywhere.

"You need to go," she said quietly. She lifted herself off his chest. "You have a big day tomorrow."

Tyler rubbed her back as she straightened. He took her hand, and she brought herself closer and wrapped her other hand around his bicep, and she walked him to his car. When they got around to the driver's side, Tyler pulled her into a hug.

Bonnie smiled and closed her eyes. When he ended the hug, she slid her arms around his torso and laid her head on his chest. She wanted him to stay. She wanted to walk in the house with him, take him to her bedroom, and fall asleep as the little spoon to his big spoon.

And that's when she remembered that he was going to do that with Caroline tonight. Caroline was going to be his little spoon.

She opened her eyes and ended the hug.

"There's something you should know about April," he began. "When you're getting the information out of her tomorrow, maybe you can ask her something about Silas, too. I was listening in the gym earlier when you were talking to her. She got nervous when you asked her if she really believed Silas could bring her dad back. I think she might be having regular contact with this Guy."

"He used her father; maybe He's trying to use her, too," she reasoned.

"You think He's gonna kill her?"

"I don't know. But I think April might be part of whatever He started with her father. I think He was in contact with pastor Young, too. Maybe He promised April he'd bring him back to life because that's the same thing He promised pastor Young. The question is: what is April supposed to do for Him in return?"

"Kill twelve people?" Tyler guessed.

Bonnie gave him a look. It was hard to imagine April being charismatic enough to gather twelve people for a slaughter.

"I'll ask when she's under tomorrow," she said.

Tyler nodded. "There's something else." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. He wished he didn't have to ask this now. "I know we've got this Klaus thing in the bag. But I need to prepare for any push back, especially with Rebekah waking up on Monday and his brother Elijah. I need to protect my mom. I was wondering if you could do for her what your family's done for your dad, or maybe hide her in your house or something."

"Hide her until we kill Elijah?" she asked, amused. "I think a protection spell would be best."

"You have a lot more to do, and you just got your powers back."

"I can ask Lucy to help me," she said with a small smile.

He nodded.

"I'll be fine. It'll all be fine."

Tyler sighed and pulled her close again. Bonnie couldn't help closing her eyes.

"Good night," he bid.

"Good night."

He opened the car door and got in.

"Oh, you're forgetting your jacket," she said, and she started to take it off.

"Keep it. I want you to keep it."

She smiled and pulled it closed in front of her.

He turned on the car and told her to go inside. Bonnie walked to the door and looked back. She smiled and then turned around and entered the house. When she heard him drive away, she leaned against the door and sighed in contentment.

* * *

Tyler knew something was wrong as soon as he pulled up in front of his house. There was an extra car and closer inspection had him running to the front door.

He jammed his key in, but it was already unlocked.

"Klaus!" he yelled as he walked inside. "Klaus!"

"We're in here, Tyler," Klaus called out.

Tyler cautioned himself not to rush, not to run. Klaus could be here for any number of reasons.

The thought died a swift death when he walked into the sitting room and saw his mother and Caroline sitting in two separate straight-backed chairs from the dinning room, with Klaus standing behind them.

"Your mother and I were debating whether or not I should call you," he said conversationally.

"You need to leave now, Tyler; he has a sword," Carol said.

"Oh, don't worry. I planned to show him," Klaus said as he lifted the Hunter's sword.

Tyler's palms prickled with nervous energy. "What is this about, Klaus?"

"Where were you on the day Bonnie stole this sword from my unit?"

"Nowhere near it."

"That's funny. I went to it today a little after Bonnie left my house, and I racked my brain. I then remembered that you are the only person in the group who knows of its existence. Stefan doesn't even know. And Bonnie didn't say anything about the trap I set in there. Do you care to comment?"

"I wasn't there, Klaus. I didn't know your sword was missing. In case you haven't been paying attention, I don't talk to that group. Outside of Caroline."

"Perfect. That's a perfect word choice: group. That's the main reason I'm here. Because you _have_ been speaking to _a _group, haven't you?"

"Get _to_ it, Klaus."

"I received a very interesting phone call from our dearly departed Hayley's contact."

That was all he said before he forced the sword through the back of the chair and through Carol's spinal column.

"No!" Tyler rushed him amid Caroline's exclamation.

Klaus left the sword in Carol and grabbed Tyler by the throat and threw him on the ground. "Please tell me more about the insurrection you've been planning against me," he hissed.

Tyler shifted, and Klaus' face went blank when the younger Hybrid's neck expanded under his palm. Tyler's growl sounded different in the Original's ears yet familiar at the same time. He then saw the detail in Tyler's eyes.

"You're an Alpha," he murmured. "How?!"

Tyler ripped Klaus' wrist off of his neck and grabbed his throat. He propelled himself off the floor and flipped Klaus onto his back, and he proceeded to pummel him into unconsciousness, his furious blows smashing through bones.

Caroline frantically pulled the sword out of Carol and bit her wrist. "Drink! Drink it, drink it!"

Klaus unsheathed his claws and ripped his way down Tyler's upper arms and threw him off. He shed his coat and let Tyler take a good look at his eyes.

Tyler was staring at another Alpha.

"I'm going to slaughter everyone you've ever met," Klaus promised. "Starting with the one who made you."

He sped over and shoved Caroline out of the way, but he was flung into the adjoining living room before he could do anything to Carol.

"Caroline, come on!" Bonnie urged.

"I can't! She's not healed yet!" Caroline bit her wrist again and fed Carol.

Lucy rushed to Carol's side, and Bonnie said, "We need to seal him in!" She turned around and ran out of the room.

Tyler suffered under Klaus' fury. Klaus was going to beat him to death. He was Klaus' first, his success, the symbol that he was going to build something bigger and better than his father could've ever imagined. Tyler had been his first second-in-command, before he'd broken his bond. He'd been his second chance at carving out the family that he wanted, the family who would always be there for him and put him first. And now this same _family _was trying to wipe him off the earth. He was going to make sure that _no one_ remembered Tyler Lockwood.

"I should've killed you the moment you broke your bond!" he screamed.

"_Fuck_ you." Tyler spat blood on his face and then streaked it with his claws. When Klaus slapped his hand away, Tyler lifted up and bit his neck, forced his canines and fangs closed over the skin and attempted to rip it off.

Klaus' growl was so loud that the two Hybrids who remained sired to him were alerted.

Tyler flipped their position and let go. Klaus was more than human. Ripping his skin out wasn't going to be easy. He stood and smashed his foot down on his face.

"Tyler, the knife!" Bonnie yelled as she stopped in the entrance of the room from the sitting room.

Tyler sped over, grabbed it from her hand, sped back, and jammed the knife in Klaus' stomach, right above his belly button. Klaus screamed and grabbed Tyler's wrist. Tyler twisted the knife for good measure. He pulled it out and jammed in again.

Lucy ran up next to Bonnie. "Are we ready?"

"We need to seal him in here," Bonnie repeated.

"I know," Lucy said,

Klaus knocked the knife out of Tyler's hand and regained the upper hand.

"We need an element," Bonnie said hurriedly. She made for the kitchen, but Lucy grabbed her.

"We have it. Plasma, the fifth element." She held up the knife that she'd grabbed from the kitchen and cut the fleshy part of her palm. She smeared it on the door frame next to her.

"I've never done it like this," Bonnie said as her body grew hot with dread over what Klaus was doing to Tyler. Klaus threw him over one of the couches, and he smashed into one of the family's sculptures.

"Mention the blood," Lucy said. "It's just like any other element. I call on Bennett blood or by the power of this blood-"

Bonnie didn't need to hear anything more. Her synapses fired off, and she chanted. "_Ego vero in potentia ad signa sanguine Bennett Klaus Mikaelson in quattuor angulis cella, suus 'a nunc usque modo! Phasmatos salvis! _Tyler, get out!"

Tyler pushed Klaus off of him and dove for the knife. He threw himself out of the room and into the foyer and fell on the floor. Klaus ran for him and smacked into the barrier, his face still as bloody as Tyler's arms.

Bonnie and Lucy ran around to the foyer and Bonnie dropped to her knees. She lifted Tyler's head onto her thighs. "It's okay. You're safe now."

"My mom," he said deliriously, his eyes swollen half shut. "Where is she?"

"She's healing slowly," Lucy responded, and she ran back to the sitting room.

"You're going to heal," Bonnie said, her arms shaking. "You're going to be fine. She's going to be fine. Everything's gonna be fine. You're gonna be okay."

She spoke over the threats that Klaus was screaming at Tyler as he tried to smash his way out of the sitting room's two exits.

Tyler turned and buried his swollen face into Bonnie's crotch and grabbed at her back. Bonnie lifted his head to her chest and held him close.

"It's okay," she soothed, wanting to calm herself down as much as she wanted to reassure him. "It's okay. It's over. We got it. I'm sorry," she apologized, warm tears swelling in her eyes. "I tried to get here as soon as I could. I'm sorry."

"You're here," Tyler mumbled.

She moved his head back so that she could look at his face. "You're not healing. Why aren't you healing?"

"It's," Tyler tried.

"Klaus is half werewolf," Lucy said as she walked back to the foyer. "As much aggression, anger, and violence as I see here, he might be an Alpha. If he is, anywhere he scratched him will take a while to heal."

"Tyler's an Alpha, too," Bonnie informed her.

"Then let's hope he got Klaus, too. From the look of his face, I think he did," she said as she looked at Klaus. "Being an Alpha doesn't speed up the healing process when it's another Alpha hurting you, unfortunately."

Bonnie touched her forehead to Tyler's and shook.

* * *

Lucy went back to the sitting room to supervise Carol's healing. When Carol was strong enough to stand, Lucy grabbed the sword and followed behind her and Caroline to join Bonnie and Tyler in the foyer.

"Tyler!" Carol called out when she saw him lying on Bonnie. She stumbled to him and fell to the floor.

"_Be careful_," Caroline cautioned. Klaus had pierced a vital part of her body.

"Tyler," she cried.

"Mom."

Carol gently took his head from Bonnie and held him.

"It's okay. I'll be okay," he mumbled.

"I'm gonna make a care package or something," Caroline said, desperately needing to move around. "They're not gonna sleep here, right?"

"No way," Carol answered.

"I'll pack some clothes," she said. She left them and avoided looking at Klaus on her way to the stairs.

"I'll help," Bonnie said as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.

* * *

Tyler's car had a bigger back seat, so Caroline and Lucy took it so that Carol could lie on her side. Bonnie and Tyler got in Carol's Mercedes, with Bonnie at the wheel.

The Lockwoods were going to stay in Caroline's house. Tyler had mumbled that Klaus has an invitation there. Caroline had double checked with Bonnie that the seal would hold, and the matter had been settled.

Bonnie wanted them in her house, but it was already filled to capacity with Lucy and Abby, so she let it go.

"I really wish you were coming with me," she said as she followed behind Caroline with both hands on the wheel.

"I still can, but...I don't wanna leave my mom alone. She'd never sleep. I can be there tomorrow." It was a little easier for him to speak now.

"The seal is only up until this time tomorrow night, so you should be able to sleep in your own bed soon."

She looked over at his arms. It was dark inside of the car, but she knew that they were still messed up. His face was getting better. She had dabbed some of the blood off with the hem of her pajama top.

"You should drink from me," she said. "Speed up the healing process."

"I can't do that."

"You need to be at full capacity to face him tomorrow."

"I'll have my pack, and I'll transition completely. This isn't what I want us to be."

"You healed me earlier-"

"You need your strength for tomorrow, too, remember? I don't wanna risk feeding you my blood right now, not after Klaus' claws got into my body. Besides, it might not work. She said nothing could heal a wound caused by an Alpha."

Frustrated, Bonnie remained quiet.

"I know you wanna help-"

"Help? I promised you that I would protect you, your pack, and that included your mom, too."

Tyler tried to lift his hand to touch her and grunted in pain.

"Stop," she said.

"How did you know to come?" he panted.

"I felt it. I was trying to sleep, and I suddenly had this….sense that something was wrong. It was like a psychic hit, but...less internal. It was a pull, and I knew that something was wrong with you. I ran out of bed and grabbed my keys. My mom stopped me, and I was about to all-out panic, because I didn't know what was waiting for me. Lucy said she had a faster way than driving."

She was wearing his jacket over her sleepwear, because she'd planned to sleep in it.

"The pull was me. You felt me," he said, tearing up because she'd received his need for her the same way he had received hers for him earlier at the school. Except he hadn't said her name, hadn't even thought her name. He'd called for her with emotion instead of words, and he hadn't realized he'd done it until she'd shown up.

The relief in his voice made Bonnie reach for his hand.

Caroline called her mother on the way, so Liz was waiting for them when they arrived. Caroline told her about the bags in the cars, so Liz took the car keys from the girls and went to retrieve them.

Caroline and Lucy helped Carol inside while Bonnie walked beside Tyler, one hand on his stomach, the other wrapped around his waist. Caroline and Lucy took Carol directly to Liz's bed while Bonnie veered off to Caroline's bedroom.

"Bring me the two phones," Tyler said after he sat down. He'd directed Bonnie to call for Klaus' phone. He'd forgotten to take Hayley's phone after he'd killed her. He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice. He'd also asked her to call for Hayley's phone, believing it to be in Klaus' pocket.

"Okay, but let's get you comfortable first. You need a shower, and you're probably going to need help. Uh." How was she going to take his shirt off without lifting his arms? If only she had the strength to tear it. But there would be another problem with getting his shirt _on_.

Caroline walked into the room with the two bags she'd packed for Tyler. She'd overpacked, but packing had helped her focus. Bonnie had packed one bag for Carol.

"Everything okay?" she asked.

"I need to get his shirt off," Bonnie said.

Caroline noticed now that Bonnie was wearing the jacket that Tyler had left with earlier. She walked up to Tyler and said apologetically, "I kind of have to rip it."

Tyler slumped. This was one of his more expensive shirts. "How about we just wash my face for now?"

Caroline rolled her eyes and smiled. She put her hand on his right shoulder and said, "Come on."

"I've got it," Bonnie declared succinctly as she put her hand behind Tyler's neck. She had all but lost her mind when she'd seen him trying to hold his own against Klaus' murderous rage. She wasn't going to forget about his mashed face until it completely healed. He'd stumbled out of that room completely weak and grasping onto her. She was not going to step aside and wait while Caroline took care of him.

Caroline raised her brows at Bonnie's challenge. Bonnie raised hers right back.

Tyler felt his powers undulate, and his eyes shifted, a response to Bonnie's declaration. He blinked, but his eyes didn't turn back. With her words and the possessive grip that she had on his neck, Bonnie had spoken directly to the half of his dual nature that wanted to make her his.

Keeping his head down, he wrapped an arm around her waist and heaved himself to his feet, effectively blocking the girls from being able to see each other. "Let's go," he said to Bonnie.

Bonnie stood him at the sink and used Caroline's face wash to gently clean him up. He hissed, but he survived.

"I could do a better job, but-"

"It hurts," he confirmed.

She helped him sit on the toilet. "What's with your eyes, and why are you grinning?"

"Nothing. Just…what you said in there." He knew Caroline had left the room, but he didn't know whether or not she was eavesdropping.

"What? You liked that?"

"I kind of did," he shared. He tightened his lips so that he wouldn't grin so wide. His face hurt enough. He was thrilled that she had, in effect, laid claim to him. "It was very...territorial."

Bonnie's heart dipped unexpectedly. "You wanna be my territory, Tyler?"

"I do."

They tried to wrap their minds around the implication of his admission, and then they shifted with sudden shyness.

Lowering his voice, Tyler said, "We broke up, you know."

Bonnie was truly surprised. She matched the volume of her voice to his and asked, "When?"

"After you left earlier. It was this big thing. She knows about us. She knows we've been together. And I mean _together_. She asked me what took me so long to come back to the gym."

"We shouldn't have taken that extra time," Bonnie said.

"I got carried away."

She smiled. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

She found that hard to believe.

"I'm not in love with her anymore, Bonnie. We've run our course."

Bonnie chose not to pursue the matter.

She walked him back to the bedroom and went outside to get the phones.

"Any idea how this happened?" she asked after she handed them to him.

"He said he got a phone call from Hayley's friend. He told him what I was planning."

It was at that moment that Bonnie had an epiphany. "Silas."

"What?"

"In the bathroom earlier. You said you were responsible for twelve lives, and I know you were talking about me, but your pack plus you makes twelve. _Twelve_."

"What about twelve?" Lucy asked as she walked into the room.

"I think someone tried to get Tyler and his pack to be the third duodecad."

"Klaus said he was going to slaughter everyone I've ever met. Holy shit." He pulled out his phone and called Kim.

She answered after a couple of rings. She was whispering. "Hey."

"Hey, are you guys okay?"

"We're fine, but I can't talk right now. Dai and Lily are going crazy because they think something's wrong with Klaus. They're trying to call him, but they can't reach him."

Just then, Klaus' phone vibrated on the bed.

"Klaus is stuck in my house. He attacked me."

"Oh my God, are you okay?"

"Barely. It's a long story, but I have what I need for Bonnie to make him vulnerable enough for us to kill. We have to meet tomorrow."

"Okay. What are we gonna do about Dai and Lily?"

"I'm coming over early tomorrow morning, and we'll take care of them. For now, let them worry. Klaus won't be coming home tonight."

Relief washed over Kim. "Good. Okay. We'll see you then."

"You think Silas called Klaus?" Lucy asked after Tyler hung up.

"You think Hayley was working with Silas?" Tyler said a little skeptically.

"Or a Silas worshiper," Bonnie answered. "The same worshiper who gave me the spirit incense, which is the _only _thing I've been doing differently before Silas channeled me."

"Shane," Tyler breathed.

"I'm going to kill him," Bonnie swore.

"Who's Shane?" Lucy asked.

"Remember the occult professor I told you about, the one who helped Jeremy control his Hunter urges?"

Bonnie was looking at Lucy, but something in her eyes made Tyler say, "Nothing's gonna get done tonight. Do you hear me?" He shook the hem of the jacket to get her attention. "Nothing's getting done tonight. You're going home, and you're going to sleep."

"Remember when I said I told him about Hayley and was waiting for him to do something? He's a Silas _fanatic_." She walked out of the room.

Tyler did his best to hurry off the bed and followed.

"I'm going to kill him," Bonnie repeated as scenarios detailing how she was going to do it played in her mind.

"Can you please make sure she doesn't go anywhere tonight?" he asked Lucy.

"He used me! He-" She hadn't let Shane help her, despite the many times he'd offered, but he'd _still _found a way to get to her. "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to _kill him_!"

"We need to think about this calmly," Lucy said.

"I'm killing him as soon as Klaus closes his eyes tomorrow." She pressed her hands against her face. Tyler could've died tonight because of Shane. She was going to hurt him, and then she was going to kill him.

She mentally checked out for the rest of the time spent at the Forbes house. She didn't look at Tyler, didn't speak to Tyler, didn't speak to anyone. When Lucy was ready to go, she went outside to get the knife from Carol's car. She said goodbye to no one. Tyler said he would talk to her tomorrow. She didn't respond. She was ready to kill.

Lucy teleported them back to the house, and Bonnie closed her eyes and stood still until the contents of her stomach settled from the rush.

Lucy said something about figuring it out and focusing on Klaus, but it was like Bonnie had water in her ears. Her mind was chasing thoughts, and all of them were running toward Shane. And when she headed to her room and tried to slow her thoughts down, (because how could he really do something like this?), Tyler's swollen face barged its way to the front of her mind.

Shane had a secret room; Shane wanted to help her; Shane's apartment smelled so strongly of herbs; Shane gave her that incense; Shane had no questions about Hayley's death; Tyler saw Shane and Hayley speaking together; Shane supported Silas unquestioningly and had no words for Qetsiyah; Shane wanted to help her.

All of that made him guilty. But most of all….Shane was the one who'd established contact with her. He'd found her on Twitter and offered to give her the few of her grandmother's belongings that were still at Whitmore. Their meeting wasn't a coincidence. He had sought her out.

And she wanted to stop thinking now; she wanted her thoughts to slow down. The day was so long; was it midnight yet? Was the decade dance really happening right now, people dancing without a care in the world? How was she going to sleep? How was she going to kill Shane? How was she going to have the mental energy?

After her mother was killed, she'd had this recurring nightmare for a week straight where she would use her powers in the middle of a threatening situation, only for it to give out on her in the middle of the fight. She imagined things playing out that way with Shane, now.

There was so much in her head, so much in her heart, and she wanted them out, either through her powers or through tears, _something_. She couldn't sleep like this; she couldn't make it through the night like this; she couldn't kill Klaus like this.

She balled her hands on her knees and yelled, not at the top of her lungs, but she yelled. She needed to let it out. She needed her brain to slow down. So she yelled, and she yelled, and her stomach contracted with it, her back arched with it, and she yelled until it became a break that her body was taking from crying. The door flew open, and she was jostled as Rudy took her in his arms. She didn't stop yelling, didn't stop crying. She couldn't hear Abby calling her name, couldn't feel Lucy's hands on hers.

How was it so easy for people to do this? What about her inspired so many people to shut off their conscious and exploit her? From Jonas to Luka to Shane, it didn't matter if she welcomed them or kept them at arms length. There was something about her. It didn't matter if she called them friend or ally. There was something about her, something that told these people that it was _okay_ to use her, something that kept them from being able to feel bad about it. There was something.

She yelled for not being able to kill Shane on this very night, and she cried.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: ~simplynia, I know about that reading slow to stretch out the end life! Lol. And I had forgotten to mention ~Blessing's snatched edges comment. Not snatched edges, though! Lmao.**

**Enjoy this chapter, everyone! I know y'all been waiting for The Moment, pretty much since this story began. I'll make you a promise: there's another in one of the chapters I recently finished writing.**

* * *

**Part 14: Distraction Tactic **

She eventually fell into a deep sleep. Abby asked Lucy to channel the inconsolable witch, and she instructed her in a cleansing chant that she used to do on Bonnie to lull her to sleep when she was younger. Rudy hadn't thought about the chant in years. And Abby had never missed her powers more than when she'd watched Lucy do for Bonnie what she couldn't do in her present state.

Bonnie's phone woke her up the next day. She sprang onto her elbow and answered groggily on the fourth ring. "Hello?" She willed her brain to catch up with the rest of her body and wake up. Her vision was blurry.

"Hey."

"Tyler. Where is it? I mean, what time is it?"

"It's….8:58."

He sounded completely awake.

"I'm going to meet the others at Klaus' house," he said.

"Oh my God. I need to wake up. I need to shower. I need to-is Caroline still coming?"

"She told me she still is. We just got back from picking up her car at my house, but I don't know, Bon. I was thinking it'd be better if Kim went with you to Founders Hall, or maybe you can go with your cousin. To make it less awkward."

"She was there for you last night, Ty. Oh my God, I need to wake up. She's a…she's a Founder's kid."

"Bonnie, are you okay?" he asked with a hint of amusement. "You sound completely out of it."

She stood up and walked to the bathroom, hoping the movement would force her brain to work. "Caroline can get us inside Founders Hall with no problem. She knows where everything is. I kind of had a panic attack last night. My dad and Lucy and my mom held me. And then I knocked out. I think they cast a spell on me to calm me down."

She looked at herself in the mirror. It was a frightening sight.

"That's good," Tyler said. "Breakdowns are good. You were kind of stoic when you left yesterday."

"Yeah," she answered softly. "Another day in the life of me."

"So, how are you feeling now?"

"Calmer. Better. I don't feel like the world is getting smaller and smaller. But the problem's still there."

"We'll get Shane," he promised.

"There'll be another one. There's always another Shane."

"So we'll kill all of them."

She was surprised by her smile. The face in the mirror didn't look so frightening anymore.

"I'm glad you were able to sleep. I couldn't. I kept thinking about you, and Klaus, and today."

"How are you today? How's your mom?"

"Mom's healed, but she's walking a little hunched. Caroline's feeding her regularly, and she can't stand the taste of blood."

Bonnie smiled. "And you?"

"Hold on."

A few seconds later, her phone chimed with the sound of a text.

"Open it," he said.

She chuckled when she saw the selfie. She gazed adoringly at his perfectly healed face.

"Do you see it?" he asked.

"Hold on," she said. "What do you think?"

Tyler looked fondly at the picture. He could tell she'd tried, but the smile was barely there. "Sad. You look beautiful. We really need that weekend."

"Would that be before or after we go to the cave?"

"During."

She smiled. "You're cute, Tyler. I'm happy you're healed. What about your arms?"

"There are scabs where the wounds are mostly fresh and scarring where they're mostly healed. I'm getting there. We're gonna get through today," he promised.

"I should be telling you that."

"I think I've come the closest to dying at Klaus' hand that I ever will. I'll have people with me today. I've been stressing about this blowing up in my face, and it did, but it came at the right time. We're ready."

"Then let's do it."

After she hung up with Tyler, she noticed that she had a text from Caroline, sent at 8:15am.

_How about I meet you there instead?_

She hoped this wouldn't be painful. Maybe going with Kim was a better idea.

* * *

Bonnie was battle-ready in her black leather bomber jacket and the three inch black combat booties her father had bought her for Christmas. The block heels sounded authoritatively down the stairs, and she made her way to the kitchen where her father was at the stove, and her mother and cousin were seated at the breakfast table.

"Good morning," she greeted.

"Good morning," the three answered in unison. Rudy left what he was doing and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Better." She smiled when he hugged her.

"What was that spell?" she asked Abby as she set her messenger bag on the third seat at the table.

"Something I used to do for you when you were a baby. I would channel you and do this simple Nature chant. You loved it. It always calmed you down. It was your first introduction to magic."

And she'd remembered it this whole time. Bonnie was touched. "Thanks."

Abby nodded. "Are you sure you're feeling better? Lucy filled us in about Shane. I think we all, the three of us, need to sit down and lay everything out on the table, everything we know, everything that's going on."

It sounded like a good idea to Bonnie, but it also meant that Lucy and her mom weren't leaving any time soon. She didn't want anyone to find out they were here, not to mention how fatal Mystic Falls had proven to be for Bennetts. But she simply replied, "Okay."

"I'm trying to get out of going away for work," Rudy said from his position at the stove.

"Dad, please. You can still go."

"I'm not going to leave only to find out something's happened to you. I still have this quarter's vacation leave."

"We're supposed to use that during the summer."

Rudy turned from the stove. "I think this is more important. Things aren't right here, Bonnie."

Bonnie sighed. "I'm grabbing an apple, and I'm heading out-"

"No, you're not, not after last night," Abby disagreed. "You're going to sit and have a good breakfast."

"If I do that, I'll run late," she said as she retrieved a small red apple from the fridge and then walked to the sink. "I have to be at Founders Hall by 10."

Abby shook her head in disappointment, although she wasn't surprised that Bonnie didn't put much stock in taking care of her body when she was on a mission. She had easily guessed that about her.

"Lucy, can you do me a favor?" Bonnie asked as she rinsed her apple.

"Yeah."

She set the apple on the table and opened her bag. She pulled out her Grimoire. She needed to transfer the spell that she had used on the knife to her book.

Abby straightened when she saw the book of spells. It was almost as big as hers, definitely as thick, but where hers was hard cover, Bonnie's was soft like a journal, and it was bound with a leather tie. It was a beautiful green-brown with the word _Serendipity_ handwritten in cursive on a piece of paper that was burnt around the edges. The outline of a feather had been carved into the book.

"Earth, fire, and air," Abby said of the color of the book, the burnt paper, and the feather.

Bonnie's eyes lit with her smile. She was surprised that Abby had guessed correctly. "Yeah. I'm missing water, though. I haven't figure out how to represent it. Dad's seen it already."

"It's beautiful," Abby complimented. It was too big for a witch in her third year, but she reminded herself that this was Bonnie. The book would be filled in no time.

"You draw?" Lucy asked as she eyed the feather.

"Of course not. I did that with a spell." She untied the book and opened it. She'd copied Emily, her grandmother, and her mother and written _Bonnie Bennett _in the middle of the first page. On the bottom right edge, following the women who'd done it before her, she'd written _Grimoire_.

Abby smiled at the replication.

"Do you have one?" Bonnie asked Lucy.

"I have two. They're both smaller than that one. I don't transfer every spell I come up with. Most I throw away, or I keep them in the draft book. I only put the ones I'm super duper proud of in my Grimoire."

Bonnie nodded and flipped to Klaus' spell. She turned the book around and handed it to Lucy. "Can you check this out and make sure everything's okay, and tell me if they could be better?"

Lucy read the title. "Life Splitting?"

"I'm splitting Klaus' blood to isolate the doppelganger magic that keeps him invulnerable, and then I'm going to poison him with his own werewolf blood. That's the Life Poison."

"This is entirely blood magic. Bonnie these are very ambitious spells," Abby commented as she read the words.

"Well, I'll tell you the first thing," Lucy said. "If you're working with blood and the body, you should channel the earth."

"Like you did with the desiccation spell," Abby reminded Bonnie.

"I had planned that," Bonnie said as she nodded.

"And you need to be outside," Lucy said.

"I had planned to be in the witches' house."

"Outside is better," Lucy said. "You need to be in an open space."

"And you need to be with a partner," Abby said. "The spells are perfect. I wouldn't change anything," she said and prompted Lucy.

"Me neither," Lucy agreed.

Bonnie lifted her chin proudly.

"I'll do it with you," Lucy said. "We can channel each other."

Again, Bonnie liked the idea, but…."That means you stepping outside of this house. I don't want anyone knowing you're in town. I don't want you getting caught in some freak supernatural crossfire and getting hurt."

Lucy looked at Abby. To her, Bonnie's scenario was extreme. "Bonnie, that's not going to happen. It'll be fine. Just come get me when it's time."

* * *

Unlike Bonnie, Tyler dressed simple for the day's main activity. He was going to take most of it off before he transitioned anyway. He pulled up to Klaus' mansion and stepped out of the car in a black, short-sleeved, casual button-down shirt. He had been relieved when he'd pulled it out of the duffle. The button-down was less hell on his scars than pulling a t-shirt or henley over his head. Ivory white cotton chinos and black Prada high-tops completed his look. The high-tops have been his favorite shoes since he bought them last year. When he'd come out wearing them, Caroline had said that she'd packed them in hopes of lifting his spirits. He'd smiled and thanked her. Only she would think of something like that in the middle of a crisis. He was grateful for the gesture.

He rang the doorbell and looked up and down the street while he waited, Klaus' phone in his hand. He always felt like Klaus was the only person who lived in the neighborhood. It was the least populated neighborhood in Mystic Falls, which of course worked to Klaus' advantage. Can't have a neighbor overhearing his weekly rants and ravings.

It was Lily who opened the door, and her disappointment was amusing.

"I thought you were Klaus," she said, as if it was his fault that he wasn't.

"Sorry." He walked inside without an invitation.

"Any idea where he is?" she asked as she crossed her arms.

"Yeah. Where's Dai?" Every member of his pack was downstairs: in the kitchen, in the living room, and Kim, Adrian, and Alex had come to the foyer.

"He's upstairs," Lily said, an excited rush in her words. Tyler had vital information about Klaus. "I'll get him," she said, brushing her thick bangs to the side out of habit as she went.

Lily getting Dai consisted of her going to the bottom of the stairs and screaming up for him to come down because Tyler knew where Klaus was.

In the meantime, the pack gathered behind Tyler, with Kim flanking his right and Adrian on his left.

Lily didn't notice the formation when she walked back to the foyer. "Well, is he okay?" she asked, her palms opened by her side. "He left last night without a word, and _no one _except Dai thought it was a good idea to go look for him. I've tried his cell and nothing."

Tyler threw her Klaus' phone, and she caught it as Dai walked into the room. He was a head taller than Lily and a year older than Tyler. His light brown eyes captivated, effortlessly bringing to mind thoughts of the supernatural, thoughts that his father had fled from when he'd moved the family out of Nagoya and out of the whole country before Dai had learned to speak.

"Where is he?" he asked Tyler now.

"Why do you have his phone?" Lily asked.

"Listen," Tyler began, "Things are about to change. Big time. Klaus didn't come home last night, because he's never coming home again. Everything's set for him to die. Everything's set for all of us to walk away from this, for us to gain our freedom."

"What the hell did you do?" Lily asked.

"Listen to what I'm saying," he said as he took a step forward. "This guy has been terrorizing us for one hellish year. It's been _that_ long since all of you saw your families, your friends. Do you ever plan to see them again? Do you think Klaus would let you? Because he hasn't so far. As far as he's concerned, he's all the family you need. It's not like that anymore. You can go. You don't even have to run. You're free. You can walk away from this."

"Tyler," Dai spoke. "What did you do? Cut the bullshit," he said as he walked up to the Alpha and stopped too close to his face.

"Look at his arms," Lily said.

"Did Klaus do that?" Dai asked. "We felt something last night, like a disturbance. We've never felt that before."

"That's weird," Kim said. "I didn't feel anything."

Lily frowned. "You said you did."

"I lied."

"We all lied," Adrian said nonchalantly.

"They didn't have to feel what Klaus felt, and they don't have to want what he wants. Not anymore," Tyler said. "Their sire bond is broken."

Dai gritted his teeth. "I told him you were a threat."

"Did you? See, that's the problem, Dai. That's why I didn't try to help you or Lily. You guys actually like him."

"We don't," Lily said. "But what he's doing is important. What he's doing is amazing."

"Killing werewolves and terrorizing people?"

"An Original vampire and the first Hybrid ever chose _us _to be by his side," Lily insisted.

"He didn't do that because he thought we were special," Tyler argued. "He didn't choose us to be by his side: he chose us to do his bidding. He _killed _Chris. He's killed us _and_ gotten us killed."

"Chris got himself killed when he stepped out of line," Lily said.

Tyler shook his head in disbelief. "You're both replaceable to him."

"That's what stops us from liking him," Dai said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Grow up, Tyler. People in the normal world fight for power all the time. People in the normal world _terrorize _all the time. You thought it'd be different in the supernatural world? Someone's always gunning for power. Someone's always trying to be special. We're an entirely new _species_," he said, eyes gleaming with excitement. "Tell me that's not fucking cool."

"Klaus is dying," Tyler said instead. "And I'm giving you guys the chance to walk away."

"You're not gonna kill him," Lily said, as if just saying it would make it true. She knew Tyler was Klaus' first successful Hybrid. He used to be the one that Klaus spoke to the most. She used to wonder about everything that Tyler must know about Klaus. She had judged them to be very close. Then Tyler had decided to be stupid, and she'd watched him grow to be a source of stress for Klaus. What she saw in Tyler now was someone that Klaus could easily crush, someone who was always being shown their place by Klaus. How could he kill the Original Hybrid?

"Walk away," Tyler instructed. "Leave town now. You can even take the car." Klaus was so controlling that he'd only given them one car to share, one expensive car, but still one car.

"If you're thinking about doing something stupid," Alex said, "Remember that there are twelve of us and two of you."

"We don't want to kill you guys," Kim said.

"We were all in this shit together," Tyler said. "And we can walk away together, even if we go in different directions."

"How about we stay here until you actually do this?" Dai asked.

"Dai," Lily protested.

"That's not an option," Tyler said. "You leave now."

"I'm not leaving only for you to fail in killing him, and he comes looking for us," Dai said.

"You seriously want to leave?" Lily asked, betrayal in her voice.

"Of course not, but we can't take them. But we're not leaving Mystic Falls before Klaus is dead."

Tyler inhaled through his nose. He could feel the others waiting for his decision. Taking advantage of Dai's proximity, he turned him around and snapped his neck. Lily rushed at him, and Kim intercepted and punched her. While Lily was disoriented, Kim went around behind her and snapped her neck.

"Now what?" asked Alex.

"Now we string 'em up in Klaus' handy dandy torture room," Adrian said, referring to the room where Klaus had once held the Hunter Connor captive.

"How about we give them a hand in getting out of town instead?" Tyler said. "The spell keeping Klaus hostage won't come down until tonight, so we have the whole day."

"This is really gonna happen," Alex said reverently. He looked at Tyler for confirmation.

Tyler smiled. "Yeah, it's really gonna happen. And I'll tell you guys how when I get back. Alex and Adrian, you guys come with me. Kim, stay behind and make sure no one comes poking around here."

"We still need the handcuffs," Adrian said, and he left the room to retrieve them.

Kim left Lily and joined Tyler. "You know, you can't face Klaus with your arms like that. That's just giving him a weakness to exploit."

"I can handle it."

"You don't have to. We're a pack. We can heal you."

Tyler looked around at all of them and nodded. "What do I need to do?"

"Nothing," Kim said with a smile. She stepped forward and grabbed his left wrist with one hand and his elbow with the other. Alex grabbed his other arm. Lena, the girl that Bonnie had begun to weld on that fateful night, was behind Tyler and held his right shoulder while the third girl in the pack stood behind him and touched his left shoulder. The rest, all boys, including Cohen, the one that had almost become permanently attached to Lena, reached Tyler by touching Kim, Alex, and the two girls. They were all looking at him and thinking two things: he had really gotten them this far. And the state of his arms was a preview of what they were going to get from Klaus tonight.

Tyler had told Bonnie that no one looked to him for any answers. Yet as he returned the attention that his pack fixed on him, he had never felt more like a leader, the core, the one who was holding all of them. And he was going to make sure that they all survived the night.

The Betas closed their eyes and concentrated, and Tyler stiffened when a potent energy ripped through him. Ten wild lupine souls directed their power to him, and he took all of it. He didn't know how not to. He grunted under the siege and balled his hands into fists. His face shifted, his teeth descending. It was unlike anything he had ever felt. They shifted too, and they all filled the house with their growls.

Tyler looked down at his arms. They were completely healed. He lifted his head and raised his voice higher than the rest. He returned their energy, infusing them with his renewed power. He felt Kim, Alex, and the two girls tighten their hold on him in response, and he knew the others were having the same reaction.

And so it went until Adrian came back with the handcuffs.

Kim shook her hands out once they were done, energy whizzing inside her body, her eyes still ethereal. "He's an Alpha, isn't he? This happened last night. You should've healed already."

"He's an Alpha," Tyler confirmed.

But no one was phased by the revelation, not after they'd just reinforced their commitment to Tyler and he to them. They were in sync. They were ready.

* * *

The gas needle in Bonnie's car was past the last bar, so she stopped to refill the tank. Needless to say, she was late in getting to Founders Hall. On her way to the Hall, she received a text from Caroline, asking her if she was still coming. Bonnie detected the impatience. She texted her that she had to refuel and was on her way.

When she arrived, Caroline met her at the car.

"Finally."

Bonnie grabbed her bag from the passenger's seat and stepped out. She was giving Caroline one more instance to be impatient and belittling, and then she was going to respond. She slung the bag across her body.

"Is she here?" she asked as she looked at the side of the building. She'd received no greeting from Caroline, so she wasn't going to give her one either.

"Yep, my hunch was correct. She went inside twenty minutes ago."

"So we need a private place to do this. I'm thinking bathroom."

"We'll need an out of order sign. If you just lock it, they'll get someone with a key. The custodial room is on the third floor, west wing. April will be in a cubicle on the second floor."

"How are you gonna isolate her?"

"I'll figure it out. I'll strike up a conversation and eventually lead her to the bathroom. Did you bring the knockout potion you used on Luka? Hopefully she already has a drin-"

"I'm going to make a powder, the same thing I made for Katherine two years ago when she was in the tomb. I just need to steal something personal from her desk."

"Well, hopefully she's the decorating type. I'll distract her, and you'll go to the desk?"

Bonnie nodded.

"Second floor, east wing, and it'll be one of the middle cubicles on the right side of the room."

Bonnie nodded. "Let's get this going."

Founders Hall was one of the more beautiful buildings in Mystic Falls. In addition to housing the town's approved official history, it also served as Town Hall and thus housed the Mayor's office as well as those of the Commissioners. Founders business and the town's historical records were done and kept on the second floor. Parks and recreation, cultural affairs, and town events were also dealt with on the second floor.

The girls entered the long lobby, and their eyes widened. There were a couple of people milling about, but April was heading toward them with her head in a black binder and a key in her hand. Bonnie turned around and scrambled for something to do with herself. She faced forward, took a chance, and crossed Caroline to go the left side of the room. Praying that April kept her head down, she walked close to the wall and headed for the stairs. She reached them and quickly but gently opened the before April had a chance to look up.

"April!" Caroline greeted cheerfully once Bonnie was safely out of sight.

"Caroline. Hi." Her default used to be to smile any time someone in her generation approached her for a conversation. Most times, she would get embarrassed about how needy she must come off, though everyone was always polite towards her. She didn't automatically smile at Caroline now, and it felt good. She and her friends were standing in the way of what she wanted.

"You're actually the person I was hoping to see. I'm here to scout out some volunteer slash charitable activities for the summer, and since you're Miss Mystic, being the resource person for whatever I come up with would look really good on your portfolio."

April was thrown aback. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting. "Um, well, I don't really have anything planned for summer yet. Actually, I've been working on something for the Spring."

"Perfect, let's hear it."

"Why do you care? You're graduating, and I'd think you'd want to spend the summer getting ready for college."

"It's kind of a last hurrah. I've been queen bee where volunteering is concerned since freshman year, and I'm...actually going to miss it," she admitted sincerely. "I know I can do it in college, join clubs and whatnot, but who knows if it'll be the same. I've made a career out of it here."

April smiled sympathetically. "Well, um, my idea for spring is to do an auction? Of people? Like a win a date thing, or bid on a date. I actually got the inspiration from Mayor Lockwood. She put one together three years ago, only she used guys. Men. I want to use girls, and I want to keep it focused on the high school. It'll be restricted to the seniors, and they'll get double volunteer hours for participating, both the girls and the people who come to bid, and the funds raised will go to my incoming junior class."

"That's very smart, especially the double volunteer points. Have you thought about running for president of your class for next year? Campaigning starts in the middle of March."

"Uh, I hadn't thought about it, but...I might like to. I mean I'm really enjoying all this Miss Mystic Falls stuff."

"And it'll look great on your college applications."

She smiled. "Okay, so, um, you're signing up?"

"Yep, and I'm volunteering the girls, too."

"Cool. Okay. The forms are upstairs. Let me just lock the doors first. I always forget."

As Caroline watched April lock the front doors, she had one thought: wouldn't it be great if no one bid on Bonnie at the auction?

* * *

After letting the door shut behind her, Bonnie climbed the pristine marble white-light yellow stairs. When she opened the door to the second floor, she felt a familiar pang in her uterus.

"Crap. _No_."

Tyler was going to kill Klaus tonight. The fact that that meant, among other wonderful things, that he would most likely want to have lots and lots of celebratory sex should not be ignored. And here she was about to get her period.

She slowed her steps as she walked the short way to the white wood double doors. A White man in his late 60s, who looked like he was born and bred in the South, walked out of the doors and tilted his head towards Bonnie with a warm smile. Bonnie returned it, though hers was a little tight. She was on a mission.

She walked into the room, and it was a completely different atmosphere than downstairs. She had come up here twice while Caroline had held the title of Miss Mystic Falls, and she had conducted business on the first floor once when her dad had come to complain about their water bill.

The room had a lot more people than the lobby, and, surprisingly since it was the historical room, had a lot more computers. A lot of Mystic High students did their volunteering here, and she recognized a couple of the ones typing away at the computers and flipping through binders.

She walked straight to April's cubicle. It was decorated with many professional photographs of her pageant win. She didn't check to see if anyone was watching her when she sat in the chair, because she did not want to arouse suspicion.

"Alright, April, give me something sentimental."

She found one immediately. Framed on the left side of the desk was a picture of April and her father. But that option was _too_ sentimental. April would notice the picture's absence immediately. But did it matter, since by the time April noticed she would already have the information that she wanted?

Yes, it mattered, because April was weirdly under Silas' protection.

She surveyed every inch of the desk and the wall without touching anything. On the right and behind the computer's monitor, almost completely hidden behind a card-holder in the shape of a pale green and white seashell, were maybe ten black wristbands and beaded bracelets. They looked like April's style.

She looked at the picture of April and her father. It would work so much better. But she did not want Silas to come after her. So she lifted the seashell and swiped the wristbands and bracelets and strategically replaced the shell so that it would've blocked the bracelets from April's view. She surreptitiously looked around to make sure that no one was looking at her, and then she left the desk.

She walked to the door and put her hand on the knob to twist it open when she saw Caroline and April coming down the hallway from one of the elevators that was next to the stairwell. She stepped to the right in a hurry just as April looked up.

She moved closer to the cubicles on the left and then moved two cubicles down to an empty one. She hunched over the desk and moved her hands so that, from the back, it would look like she was doing something. She heard the door open, and she heard April direct Caroline to where her desk was. She moved back up the cubicles at the same pace that they walked to the desk. She chanced a glance their way and, seeing their backs completely turned, she picked up the pace and walked to the door.

When she opened it, someone else was coming in. She didn't bother with the courtesy of letting them in first. She squeezed her body past them while apologizing and left the room.

* * *

Caroline relaxed when she heard the door open and close. Surely that meant Bonnie had stepped out. While looking around the room upon entering, she had seen Bonnie standing at the wrong cubicle. She had been specific when she'd told her where to go. Hopefully she had simply caught her on her way out.

When her phone buzzed in her back pocket, she pulled it out and got a confirmation text from Bonnie. She set the phone on April's desk. Now the ball was in her court.

"Here are the forms," April said, as she picked up another black binder that was on the desk and placed it in front of Caroline. "It's just the application and a consent form to use any pictures we take of you. You're eighteen already, right?"

"Yeah. Can I have a pen?"

April handed her a black pen, and then Caroline started to do what she did best: she talked. "My volunteer hours are all squared, though I'm not sure about the other girls."

"Well, they'll have to come in and fill out the forms themselves. You can't do that for them. But you can write their names on the participant list."

"I will do that," she said playfully.

April lifted her shoulders. "So…did you go to the dance last night? I didn't see you."

"Uh, no. I didn't feel like it."

"Didn't feel like it?" she asked with a smile full of disbelief. "You put so much work into it."

Caroline chuckled. "Uh, well, I was gonna go with Tyler, but then he…caught something. He was yacking in the bathroom all night, so I stayed and took care of him."

"Oh. I hope he feels better. You guys are a really cute couple." She idly wondered how vampire-werewolf Hybrids could get sick.

Caroline looked up from what she was writing. If she truly wanted to rope April in, nothing would work better than the truth. Or at least _some_ truth. "We are. We were." She chuckled. "Um, I guess you can be the first to know that…we broke up," she nodded.

"What? Why? I mean, I've seen you at school."

"We broke up last night." She straightened the binder in front of her, just an inch.

"You just said that you were taking care of him."

"I was. And during one time when he was throwing his guts up in the bathroom, his phone rang. I didn't answer, but I picked up the phone so that I could look at the screen and tell him who it was, you know? It wasn't a name or number that I recognized. So, not getting an answer, the floozy sent a text. Turns out someone else has also been _taking care of him_, if you know what I mean."

"Oh. Wow. Sorry."

"It's okay."

"Were you guys together long?"

"A year and a half? Actually, late this summer would make two."

"Wow. And you're just okay?"

She smiled and closed her eyes. "I'm not okay. I'm hurt. I'm...deeply hurt. I don't know the girl, but it kind of feels like I do? Just because, everyone in school knows that Tyler's my boyfriend. It's just unexpected."

"Did he try to explain himself?"

"Uh. Yes and no? There's just no regret there about what he did, and it went deeper than emotional bonding. It would've been one thing if he was just talking to her, but he took it farther, and…I threw a fit," she said on a chuckle. "I'm good at those. There was a time when….he couldn't even look at anyone else. I was the only person who got him. He relied on me. Not saying that that matters most to me, but I've done a lot for him. And it wasn't easy. It was downright hard sometimes, but I hung in there. And this is how he repays me."

"I'm sorry."

"Anyways, I broke it off."

"Do you think he'll realize his mistake and come back?"

"Honestly? I don't know," she answered quietly.

"Would you consider taking him back if he did? Maybe just for revenge?" she suggested with an encouraging smile when Caroline stayed pensive.

Caroline chuckled. "Maybe then."

* * *

The bracelets still in her fist, Bonnie took the stairs to the third floor and turned left. The third floor was a lot wider than the second, though not as wide as the lobby. She found the janitor's door around the first corner. It had a plaque at the eyesight level of someone who was Caroline's height that said _Custodial_. She turned the knob and only got so far. It was, of course, locked.

She looked in the direction from which she'd come to make sure that she was still alone. She flexed her hand on the knob and quietly said, "_Licet ego ineo_."

The lock clicked, and she turned the knob. The room was longer than she expected. It was narrow, with a walking space that fit only one person, but it was just wide enough to contain a desk with a computer. She supposed there was a lot to keep track of. She walked to the back of the room, turning sideways so that her bag would not hit the computer chair, and she found a container with sticky white laminated signs that said _Out of Order_. She took one and vacated the room. She closed the door with her elbow and switched the sign to the hand holding the bracelets. She put her free hand on the knob and said, "_Mihi rest est in termino_."

The lock clicked again. She turned the knob and only got so far. It was locked. She sighed in relief and headed for the stairs again.

She reached the second floor and slowly opened the door and poked her head out. No one was in the hallway. She turned left in search of the girls bathroom. When she found the one marked _Women_, she stepped inside and looked under every stall. No feet.

She deposited her bag on one of the sinks, and then she stepped outside to paste the sign on the door. Afterwards, she walked inside and rifled through her bag for the green ceramic bowl. She produced it and dropped the bracelets in. She set the bowl on the floor and then took out four large white candles. She would need to cleanse her candles of magical residue soon or else buy new ones. That was a tip she'd gotten from Abby's Grimoire.

She placed the candles around the bowl and then took out a candle lighter. She walked around and lit all four candles, and then she sat on her calves with her back to the bathroom's entrance. She closed her eyes and connected to the flames. She connected the flames to the bracelet and thought of April, of subduing her, knocking her unconscious, bringing her closer to these items that she cherished.

The flames intensified and grew in size. She lifted her chin and fell deeper into the spell. And then it was over.

She opened her eyes and looked at the black powder in the bowl, and she smiled.

She blew out the candles and took the bowl out of the middle, and then she lit the candles again.

She just needed to fill the second bowl with water, and she would be ready.

* * *

"So what about you, planning to get a boyfriend?" Caroline asked.

April smiled. "No, not really. I mean I liked Matt, but-"

"You realized he was more valuable to you dead?"

April started at her candor. She asked it like it was part of a normal conversation.

"Hey, don't look like that. One aspect of knowing these crazy secrets is that you can talk about something like that….well, just like that."

"Like we're friends? That doesn't sound like a life I want."

Caroline shrugged. "Friends or not, there aren't many people we can talk to so openly. But back to the original topic: you don't want a boyfriend."

"I don't think it's in the cards for me right now."

_Because you're trying to bring your dead father back to life?_ Caroline thought. Out loud, she said, "You've got two years left. Plenty of time. Unless you're into girls."

"No," she said, lifting her eyebrows. She fidgeted. "I mean I did kind of have an experience…well two, at boarding school, but I'm not looking for a girl." Why was she sharing this?

"Girls are good," Caroline said lightly as she nodded. "Won't get any judgment from me."

April looked at some of the items on her desk, just because. She really shouldn't have said that.

Caroline's phone chimed with a text, and she picked it up.

_Bathroom's out of order. I'm ready._

She set the phone down and finished completing both papers, and then she wrote Bonnie and Elena's names on the participant list and put hers last. "I have no idea if Bonnie and Elena have their hours in order. I'm pretty sure Elena doesn't. I can't remember the last time she even said the word volunteer."

April smiled. "So, will you be going to prom by yourself?" she asked, just to make conversation. She always felt like she needed to talk more when a conversation began to lag.

"Ugh, I'm trying not to think about that right now. I already have my prom dress."

"What does it look like?"

"It's a peachy pink? I love all shades of pink, from the lightest pink going all the way to dark magenta, almost purple. The only pink I don't like, weirdly enough, is the pink you usually see when people talk about pink? I don't even know what shade that is, but it doesn't do it for me. But yeah, that's all I'm gonna say about the dress. I love it, and I can't wait to wear it."

April's question about going to prom alone made her realize that despite blowing up at Tyler at the Festival for wanting to bury himself in concrete and telling him that he was going to miss prom, she had _not_ been picturing him as her prom date. In the front of her mind she'd expected to go with him, sure, but in the back of her mind, she had expected to go alone. He was out of town so often nowadays, or otherwise incapacitated, which meant he missed a lot at school, so she had assumed that some circumstance would come up that would force him to miss prom, too. It was her little secret that more than once when she'd pictured herself wearing the dress at prom, she had imagined Klaus showing up in that way he always did when she was dressed to the nines, and more than once she'd wondered what his reaction to her latest knockout would be.

"Well, I hope you have fun," April said. "Going to dances alone isn't that bad."

"I have to go to the bathroom," Caroline said. She said it like she was talking to herself, and she shook her legs for effect. "Hey, have you shipped out everything that was donated at the Festival?"

"Um, some of them. Why?"

"I usually keep track of stuff like that. I miss being Miss Mystic. I used to, like, live in this building, and I loved coming here on Saturdays. It's so quiet."

"Yeah, it is. I love it," April said with a smile.

"I know getting those donations to where they need to be can take time. There was this one painting that I loved. It was weird. I mean I'm not really into art, but this one was kind of dark, and I remember thinking that it was an odd choice for a donation at Christmas time. It was a snowflake…."

"Oh yeah, I know that one," she piped. "It's still in the storage room. Actually, it was painted by…Klaus Mikaelson," she finished quietly.

"Oh, _ew_. Well, there goes me liking it."

"You don't like him?"

"He's a monster." She shook her legs again.

"Hey, uh, you can go to the bathroom. I'll just file these."

"Wanna come with?"

"Uh, sure," she said with a smile.

Caroline smiled and grabbed her phone. "You plan to go to _your_ prom, right?" she asked as they strolled to the door.

"Yeah, I think so?"

"Good. I don't understand it when people say they're not going to their prom."

April smiled. If things were different, she could really like Caroline. Talking to her was enjoyable, although she wondered if she was doing well with her side of the conversation. Caroline made her excited to be Miss Mystic Falls, rather than nervous. Talking to her made her feel like she could excel at all of her responsibilities. And Caroline wasn't patronizing like Rebekah had been.

They saw the sign when they got to the door.

"Out of order?" April voiced.

"Oh God, is that weird explode-y thing happening here, too?"

"Not that I've heard of."

"Let's see the damage," Caroline suggested as she pushed the door open just enough for her to squeeze through. She saw the candles on the floor, so she made sure to stay in front of April's eyesight. Bonnie was standing behind the door.

April opened the door wide and walked in. Caroline moved out of her line of sight.

April saw the candles and bowl of water on the floor, as well as the messenger bag that was on the sink. "What the heck is this?"

"April," Bonnie called.

April turned, and she swallowed. She stood still when she realized that Caroline wasn't as confused as she was. "What is this?" she asked Bonnie. "What are you doing?" she asked Caroline, her voice deep with betrayal.

"It's an interrogation. Sorry," Caroline shrugged.

The sympathy on her face looked completely fake to April. She gasped and took a step back, not knowing what to expected. "Si-"

Bonnie threw the powder on her face and stopped her from finishing. The concoction took on a life of its own and disappeared up April's nose. The rest of April's cry disappeared in a sigh, and her legs gave out as she lost consciousness.

"Woah there," Caroline said as she caught her. She helped her the rest of the way to the floor. "Uh, did you need me to carry her over there?"

"No, I can just move everything down here," Bonnie replied. She looked at the grains of powder that had stuck to the bowl. "Okay," she sighed. "Let's hope that wasn't enough to get the attention of…you know who."

"Oh God, is He Voldermort now?" She did not want to deal with immortal witches who were at the beck and call of randoms like April.

"Worse," Bonnie said as she went to set the bowl down and gather the candles. "He's actually real. And we're gonna find out who He is."

"I took the liberty of asking her where the painting is. It's in the storage room."

"You did _what_?" Bonnie asked, halfway to setting the third candle down. "Caroline, she's not supposed to know we want that painting."

"I was talking to her for so long that I figured what's the big deal? By the time she realizes it's gone, Klaus'll be dead, and we can return it."

"The big _deal _is that we don't want her running back to-whoever she's talking to and _telling_ them. Are you freaking _kidding_ me? She's not gonna remember seeing me, anything involved with the powder is automatically erased, but you asked her _before _she came in here."

"Klaus'll be _dead_," Caroline argued.

"But I _won't_ be. The whole point of _not_ asking her directly is to keep her from knowing what I'm doing! Are you fucking kidding me? Why would you do that?"

"Because I didn't see the big deal!"

"Right. My _life_ and my _safety _are just no big deal. She's gonna run straight to Him and tell Him you asked about that painting, and who in the world would want something that belongs to Klaus? Maybe someone planning ritual?"

"I didn't think your life would be involved in it! I just thought it was about keeping it a secret from _her_!"

"Why did you even bother to bring her here if you already took care of it?"

She shrugged, and her shoulders got stuck by her neck. "I just figured you could double check. I'm _sorry_."

"Right. Whatever." She roughly jutted the last candle down in front of April's head. One was at her feet, the other two by at each elbow. "I'm sure sorry will keep Silas away," she said as she straightened to retrieve the bowl of water.

"Whatever happened to you know who?" Caroline asked with just a little bit of fear. She didn't want the Man to pop up in the bathroom and wipe them out.

Bonnie stopped walking as irritation flooded her body. She closed her eyes, and then she grabbed the bowl. Her face tight, she sat on her calves in front of the candle at April's head.

She closed her eyes and centered herself. Caroline stood and watched. She doubted that Bonnie would get in trouble. April might tell Silas, and He might retaliate, but she didn't believe that Bonnie would _die_ from it. It was hard for her to imagine anyone killing Bonnie. And other people went off script regarding plans all the time. She wasn't going to let Bonnie bite her head off for doing it this _once_.

Bonnie opened her eyes and ceremoniously dipped her fingers in the bowl of water. She splayed her fingers as much as she could and wiggled them. She lifted her hands and brought them on each side of April's temples, her thoughts focused on clarity. She closed her eyes. Clarity, clarity, she desired clarity and truth.

Caroline thought she saw the air around Bonnie's hands ripple as something flowed from the ex-cheerleader's fingers to April's head. It happened again, and she stopped doubting what she saw.

Bonnie opened her eyes and looked down, though she kept her head straight, her defined cheekbones somewhat obscuring her vision."April? April, I'm talking to you. Answer me. Is Klaus' painting in the storage room?"

April slowly separated her lips and mumbled. "Yeah."

She looked at Caroline and sarcastically said, "Gee. Thank God for that."

Caroline matched her look defiantly.

Bonnie returned her attention to April. "When was the last time you spoke to Silas?"

"What are you doing?" Caroline asked.

"Taking care of something," Bonnie answered. "When did you last see Silas, April?"

"Yesterday."

Bonnie swallowed. "What did you speak about?"

"My birthday's in April. I couldn't go to the explosion site. I doubted his power. Bonnie. Tyler."

Bonnie's heart dropped, and she looked at Caroline, who was equally alarmed. Caroline stepped closer and bent toward the prone body.

"What did you say about Bonnie?" Bonnie asked.

"What I saw in the gym."

"And what did Silas say?"

"Bonnie's the key to his release. Bonnie is Qetsiyah's descendant. Bonnie's distracted. Something's going on with her and Tyler. We're going to make her interest align with ours."

Bonnie couldn't feel her fingers anymore. She felt like she was standing on a ledge at the top of the solar system. Looking down was making her unsteady, and she was going to fall down, straight to earth, but it wasn't going to be the entrance into the atmosphere that killed her.

"What-" Her voice was hoarse. She swallowed. "What did he say about Tyler?" she asked numbly.

"There's something going on with him and Bonnie. He's being helped by Bonnie."

Bonnie let the silence stretch, and then she asked her final question. "How…How am I the key to his release, April?"

No response.

Bonnie closed her eyes. "She doesn't know."

She removed her fingers, and the waves left April's head and entered her hands.

"We can get rid of her," Caroline suggested. "Somehow. You can make it so that she never wakes up, take away Silas' little information bot until we can take care of Him."

"Then He'll definitely know something's up. Let April reap what she's sowing."

"What do you think He means by merging your interests?"

"He talked about me helping Tyler. That's been my interest for months. He and April spoke yesterday, and then Klaus attacked Tyler, fully intent on killing him."

"Wait, you think Silas _called _Klaus? From where, the grave? Tyler said you think Shane's behind it."

"I do. I think Silas has more than one puppet carrying out His work. I think He told Shane what to do." The day wasn't going to end without her blowing Shane's door off its hinges and making sure _he_ never woke up.

"But what's the point of killing Tyler?"

Instead of telling her about the duodecads, Bonnie realized the real reason that Silas had gone after Tyler and his pack. "The sell. Silas promised April He'd bring her father back; who knows what He's promised Shane, and who knows what He promised Hayley. But I bet He'd promise me that He'll bring Tyler back. All I'd have to do is free Him. Our interests would be aligned."

"We're going to get the cure anyways, so His fate is sealed," Caroline said.

Bonnie could always count on them to stay the course no matter what. Her mother, Lucy, her father, and Tyler had all wanted her to forget the cure as soon as they'd learned that getting it would pose a threat to her life. Caroline felt no such worry, and she was sure that if she were to tell the Salvatores and Elena, their reactions would ultimately be the same. Heck, Damon had already made his stance known after she'd told him that Silas had attacked her during the storm. It was no wonder that her family and Tyler's worry had stressed her out. The egregious oversight shown by Caroline, despite the now common knowledge that Silas had already attacked her once, was what she was used to.

"Everything's gonna be fine," Caroline assured her. "It sounds like He wants you to perform a spell."

Yeah, one that was probably going to kill her. She had a lot to think about. She had a lot to tell Tyler. Her family was going to lose their collective shit. She wasn't going to be able to so much as _say _the word Israel, let alone go anywhere near the country.

As if on cue, her phone buzzed. She pulled it out of her pocket and opened the text sent by Tyler.

_I'm out of Mystic Falls. Things didn't work out with Dai and Lily so dropping them unconscious as far away as possible. Will be back in time for the kill. Of course :)_

She smiled fondly at the text.

_Okay :). Things went well here. Got a lot to tell you._

She sent the reply and took a deep breath. She looked at Caroline, who was looking at her. Not bothering with an explanation, she picked up the candle in front of April's head and blew it out.

"Was that Tyler?" Caroline asked tightly.

"It was," Bonnie said as she stood and went to the next candle. "He's heading out of town to dump two uncooperative Hybrids."

"Sure that's all he said?"

"I'm positive," Bonnie said as she blew out the last candle. She carried them to her bag.

"And you really _have_ been caring for Tyler's _interests _for months now, haven't you?" Caroline asked as she smoothed down her pants.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Bonnie said just for the sake of it as she picked up the green bowl of leftover powder and then walked to pick up the water.

"Don't play dumb," Caroline commanded as she stood up.

"You're seriously trying to do this right now?" Bonnie said, bothering to look at her for the first time since she'd started to collect the candles.

"Oh no, you're right. I should wait until the time is right, because we both know how often that is, especially for you. _Yes_, I'm doing it right now. You're a tramp."

"_Excuse_ you._._"

"And we broke up because of you. But something tells me you already know that."

"I do know you broke up, but are you positive it was because of me?"

"I'm positive you've been _sleeping_ with him."

"Tell yourself what you need to to feel better, Caroline," she said, and she walked to the nearest sink to throw out the water.

"Are you _denying _that you've slept with him?" she asked with an incredulous smile on her face.

"I'm not," Bonnie replied as she deposited the bowls in the sink and turned in her direction. "But I think you're dodging. I'm not the cause of your breakup."

"How could you do this to me? Out of all the guys, out of-you went through this. Jeremy _cheated _on you. And so you turn around and do it to me?"

"What I've been doing has had nothing to do with you. At all. At any point."

"Yeah that's kind of the problem, don't you think?"

"Your relationship was going to end whether I was involved or not."

"Did you get that from Anna's Big Book of Slut Responses?"

"I'm not a slut," Bonnie shrugged.

"No, you're just a piece of ass."

"Oh, please tell me."

"You guys are so temporary. You're end of the world ass, Bonnie: my life sucks, and I'm staring into the abyss, _ass_. You're ass to soothe the broken soul, and you just _gave_ it to him. Jeremy left you as soon as he could for the girl he really wanted. You have too many _problems_, Bonnie, and Tyler's gonna realize that as soon as Klaus is dead, and guess what? He's going to leave you for someone who's just a little bit easier to handle."

"And that would be you," Bonnie bit off, her mouth twisting in anger.

"It'll be anyone who's not _you_. He just spent a _year_ suffering under Klaus. You think he's gonna stick with someone who can't stay out of trouble for the life of her, someone who's all doom and gloom and has to be _convinced_ to do anything fun?" she asked on a pitying chuckle. "This thing will end, but I promise you won't be the one who ends it. Just like last time, you're going to be completely blindsided and left wondering why he lost interest."

"Caroline? Tyler's going to kill Klaus tonight. And after he does, he's going to kiss me. And as soon as he does, everything you just said will be rendered completely useless. Because then as soon as the time is right, no, I'm sorry, as soon as he _can_, he is going to _take _the time, just like he did after Kol attacked? And he's going to give me more…thorough…kisses. On places that I'm positive you haven't been kissed in months. And I'll forget this conversation even happened. It sounds like you think I'm looking for a husband, Caroline. If memory serves right, you're the one obsessed with having a white knight to match Elena's."

"You're living in the past."

"And let's hope you don't slide _back_ to the past now that you're single and Klaus is about to die. Wherever will you get the attention?"

Caroline was stunned. "_Bitch_."

"I'm a piece of ass, but you're the girl with the broken heart. You're the one whose trust has been shattered; you're the one who's going to go over every conversation and wonder what every word meant; what did it mean that time he was distracted? What did it mean that time he couldn't pick up? That's gonna be _your _life for the next couple of months. Not mine. And it feels damn good. You wanna talk about wondering when he lost interest? You'll have to let me know when you finally figure it out."

"I hate you. And at least my heartbreak will end, Bonnie. When and where are are you gonna find a guy whose life _sucks_ so much that he'd actually be willing to stick with _you_? Slim pickings in Mystic Falls," she said charitably.

"Slim pickings, but until that guy shows up, spending time with the one who spent weeks thinking about me before I ever _gave it to him_ doesn't sound like a bad setup. Why don't you just go get the painting?"

"Why don't you get it yourself, bitch?" Caroline turned and headed for the door. She flung it open and left, her destination: the car.

Bonnie exhaled through her nose. That wasn't as painful as she'd considered. Caroline could go screw herself. And fall down the two flights of stairs to the lobby, for all she cared.


	15. Chapter 15

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Part 15: Bennett Tête à Tête**

If Silas chose to retaliate against Bonnie, Caroline hoped that he would make it hurt. It was no less than she deserved.

She turned the key hard enough to almost snap it in half. It was only her good fortune that the car simply turned on. She jabbed her finger at the screen to activate the Bluetooth, and then she gritted, "Call Stefan."

"Hello?" Stefan answered on the second ring.

"Are you alone right now, or are you close to nosy vampire ears?"

"Uh, Damon's been insisting I stay at the house since I lost my eyesight."

"Oh my God, forget it," she said impatiently. She stabbed the screen and hung up.

Caroline couldn't believe that she was doing it, but she called Elena. She never told Elena her problems, not unless Bonnie was there, too. It just wasn't part of their thing, despite the fact that they'd gotten closer since Caroline had become a vampire. She told Bonnie her problems, Tyler, Stefan, and Elena when she was with Bonnie. But never Elena alone. And Elena's bitchy and callous vampire emotions made talking to her about problems, and therefore appearing vulnerable, a risky move. But she was going to try, because she would implode if she didn't talk to someone. She couldn't sulk properly unless she got it out first.

She was backing out of the parking lot when Elena answered.

"Hello?"

"Please tell me you're not at the boarding house."

"I'm not at the boarding house."

"Are you with _Damon_?"

"No, I'm home. What is this about?"

"Is Jeremy there?"

"_No_, he's at work. Caroline-"

"Bonnie's a lying, cheating slut, that's what this is about. And Tyler's no better."

"What in the world are you talking about?"

"Tyler's been cheating on me, and he's been doing it with her! And I confronted her about it, and she threw it in my face!"

The line was quiet.

"Elena!"

"What?! I have no idea what to say. I have no idea what you're talking about. Bonnie threw _what _in your face? I'm lost, and that doesn't sound like Bonnie."

"Well catch up, because our little caterpillar's gone through one _ugly_ transformation."

"Okay," Elena processed as she put a hand on her forehead and paced in her living room. The conversation had just begun, and she was already close to being overwhelmed by all of the emotion that Caroline was throwing her way. "Bonnie's sleeping with Tyler. Why would she do that?"

"Because she's selfish. Because she's desperate. Because she'll drink up any attention a guy gives her."

Elena knew that Bonnie was far from desperate for male attention, but now was not the right time to correct Caroline. "Okay, so why is _Tyler_ doing this?"

"Because he's an asshole, and he's being sucked in by her charity."

"Were you guys having problems?"

"No. Maybe. But it's nothing that required him to cheat," she hurried to clarify.

"Caroline, you can't skimp on the details, especially since we're talking about our _friend_. You can't make this one-sided."

"And what's the correct amount of details that makes it okay for your best friend to steal your boyfriend?"

Elena didn't respond, because Caroline had her there.

Caroline nonetheless provided some details. "He's been pissed off that I sold Chris out, this Hybrid friend of his, in order to get Jeremy to become a Hunter. Chris was the one who helped Stefan get to you when you were hallucinating."

"Oh." That was all she could say. If the guy was Tyler's friend, then it made perfect sense for him to be mad. And she would apologize to Tyler if she needed to. But everything was sorted, she had been saved from committing suicide, so there was no merit to chastising Caroline over using Tyler's friend. She couldn't exactly tell her that she shouldn't have done it. Caroline making another choice could have meant the end of her life. There was literally nothing for her to say in this situation.

"Do you _agree _with him?" Caroline questioned in the silence.

"Of course I don't agree with him, not about the cheating. The friend thing is complicated, and that's between you guys. How did you even find out about the cheating?"

She wasn't going to tell Elena when she suspected that it had started. That part was embarrassing. "Kol attacked yesterday, right? Remember when Tyler said he wanted to be alone? Remember when Damon and Stefan called you and said they were outside? Bonnie didn't come back to the gym until like twenty minutes after you left, and, when she came back, she came back with Tyler. And her face was healed! Remember her face had been bruised? He healed her face! He gave her his blood!"

"So, what are you gonna do? Is it over between you guys?"

"I don't know," she lied for her ego. "He wants it to be over. God, I hate the both of them. I _hate _them!"

Caroline's hysteria was pulling at Elena's base emotions even though she had nothing to be hysterical about at the moment. "Where's Bonnie now?" she asked.

Caroline wanted to spill. She wanted to spill so bad. Instead she said, "Stealing something."

"What? Oh my God, is she stealing from Klaus again?"

_Yes_. "She did her mumbo jumbo on April to get information about Silas."

"What did she find?"

"Elena, I really don't wanna talk about that right now."

"Right. Sorry. I'm really sorry about this. You and Tyler have been together for a long time. You've been through a lot."

"Tell that to him. Better yet, make that _matter_ to him."

"Do you wanna come over? We can pig out and talk or watch some movies."

"I don't know. I don't know what to do with myself. I kind of want to be alone right now."

"Okay. But call me if you need anything."

"Yeah."

She had no idea where she was heading. She didn't want to go home and just sit on her bed. She didn't want to answer Mrs. Lockwood's questions about how things were going and where they were at with the plan to kill Klaus. So she drove to the church near Founders Hall, parked, cut the car off, and sat with her thoughts.

* * *

Bonnie arrived home twenty minutes after Caroline had left. She had found the storage room, correctly named Archives, in the basement of the building. She'd casted a spell to render the painting invisible to all eyes while it was inside the building. It had disappeared from her sight only to become visible as soon as she had magically unlocked the front doors and stepped outside.

She left the painting in the back seat of the car, grabbed her bag, locked the doors, and headed inside.

She didn't give a shit about Caroline's opinion. Some of the stuff she'd said, she and Tyler had already addressed anyways. Namely: him deserving someone who had a stronger sense of normalcy than she did. Tyler had decided that _she _was who he deserved.

And the bottom line was that she and Tyler have shared too many intimate moments, even before they started sleeping together, for her to question him because of Caroline's stupid jabs. He has poured his heart out to her multiple times and been _insistent _on how much he cared about her and how much he wanted to be included in her life. So she had two choices: she could either close her eyes and dive headfirst toward Tyler and hope that she broke through water instead of cracking her skull on concrete, or she could chase that self-destructive rabbit down the dark hole of despair where she would worry about her ability to hold on to him amidst all the craziness that tend to drop in her lap.

She was going with the former. She had tried to push him away, and he'd pushed right back, wanting to know more about her, wanting her to _rely_ on him. She wasn't going to resist him just for the sake of it. She wasn't going to bring all of the bad habits that she had displayed in her relationship with Jeremy to her relationship with Tyler.

Not that…..her and Tyler had a relationship or anything. The clock was ticking on her lifespan. For all she knew, her father was going to attend her funeral at the end of May instead of her graduation. And that was the other monumental reason why she was brushing Caroline's words off her shoulders. Her time on this earth was short, and she liked Tyler a lot, maybe too much, so she was going to enjoy what they had as much as she could.

Caroline could go choke on vervain. Tyler's words were mightier than hers. And she couldn't wait to break him off some victory sex. He was going to tremble for her the same way that he had the first time they'd slept together. And then he was going to take her the same way he had in the bathroom stall.

And Caroline was going to lick her wounds. Alone.

Bonnie set her bag on the couch and followed the sound of water to the laundry room and found her father pouring clorox on their combined whites.

"Hey," he greeted.

"Hi," she responded as she leaned on the door panel.

"How did it go?"

"Very good. Got the painting."

"No hiccups?"

_Not with the spells_. And she decided then and there that she wasn't going to tell her family what she'd learned from April until she spoke to Tyler. Her family had just majorly discouraged her, and she knew that it was going to be more of the same when she delivered the news.

"Dad, can you please consider going to Jersey like you're supposed to?"

"No. And while I thought you were just concerned about my safety this morning, I'm now considering that you might also want to get rid of me so that you can do whatever you want, and that's not gonna happen. I'm not leaving this town until I'm guaranteed that that cure will stay where it belongs."

"Mom and Lucy are here. They can watch over me." She was planning on convincing them to leave.

"Mom and Lucy encouraged you to go after the cure."

"No, I encouraged _them_, and that was before Lucy's premonition. All of this was my idea, so don't blame them."

"It was still irresponsible, just as it was irresponsible of that Lockwood boy to keep it from me, especially after what happened to you last weekend, and don't you dare tell me he didn't know."

"He's been looking out for me."

"Not from where I'm standing."

Speechless, she stuttered, "Okay...okay, I'm done with this conversation. Bye." She made her way to the living room and turned toward the stairs.

Rudy set the clorox down on the dryer and followed after her, raising his voice so that she could hear him as she ascended. "Knowing that you were on a suicide mission and not telling the only adult in your life isn't looking out for you."

"You don't even know him!" she exclaimed as she turned on the stair she was on and took a step down. "You don't know him, so stop talking about him. He's been looking out for me. He's the reason my head didn't explode last weekend-"

"I know," he began. She cut him off before he could say the but.

"And he's told me not to go after the cure, too, but for some reason it sounds _so _much more encouraging when _he_ says it."

"Bonnie, what could possibly be discouraging about not wanting you to deliver yourself at death's door? I heard what you said last nigh-"

"I'm done, dad. I'm done. This conversation is over." She turned and dug her heels on the stairs as she finished making her way up.

She entered her bedroom and closed the door. Irritated, she sat on the bed. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted Tyler.

_Your girlfriend wants to bite my head off. Figuratively speaking._

She became restless, so she left the room and the phone and turned to her left, toward the bedroom that Lucy and her mother were sharing. The door was open, but she knocked on it, even though the women were looking at her when she appeared.

"Hi," she greeted.

"Hey," they answered.

"How did it go?" Abby asked.

"Perfect. It's all set," she said to Lucy. "The Lockwoods have a big backyard, so that'll be enough open space."

"Nice. Close to the action."

Bonnie turned her attention to Abby. "Can you please convince dad to go out of town?"

"I'll do no such thing."

Bonnie raised her eyeballs to the ceiling in frustration.

"He's your father, Bonnie. I'm not gonna tell him to turn his back on you when we're still not sure how this is gonna play out. You still haven't said you're leaving that cure alone."

"So I'm guessing you heard us on the stairs."

Abby and Lucy's expressions told her yes. Abby had even gone to the door in hopes of hearing better.

Bonnie crossed her arms and glowered at the door handle.

Abby marveled at the fact that the giggly and playful toddler that she'd left behind had grown up to be one bull-headed child. She reminded her of her sister.

"Okay, you guys said we were going to have a meeting? We've got time to kill," Bonnie said.

"Bring the swords," Lucy piped up, finally able to participate in the conversation.

Bonnie stalked to the end of the bed and sat down. She closed her eyes and summoned the swords.

"Uh, wait a second," Abby said, when they showed up in a line. "There are four here. We only had three."

Lucy left her spot at the head of the bed. "We got another one." She bent down to examine the three swords that still looked like ancient artifacts, and she finally spotted the latest arrival. She used her power to make it float at eye level, the handle pointing to the ground.

"They have markings on them," Bonnie informed nonchalantly. She was in a terrible mood, thanks to her father.

"I examined the one Lucy got," Abby said. "I don't recognize the language, and a spell to divine it yielded nothing, which tells me that the spell itself is protected from decoding. And I think it's because the _spell_ is protecting the sword. Decode the spell, and you can reverse the protection on the sword."

"The spell is written _into _the object it's acting on," Bonnie murmured thoughtfully, the concept nudging her out of her funk for the moment.

"Yeah, that was very common in the ancient days, especially since writing used to be so highly regarded," Lucy informed her. "Okay, my turn: the fact that these things follow us-"

"Wait, mom, the sword follows you?"

"No, it follows Lucy."

"And _that _is because, as far as the magical world is concerned, you're no longer a Bennett. We witches: blood is very important to us. Hell, it's how we're able to have our powers in the first place: blood, genes. Take life away from the blood, and you're….not a witch. Well, I mean you'd be a ghost and have your powers, but your blood is no longer alive, but your soul is trapped in the body-_Anyways_. That's what I think links these swords to us: blood. Bennett blood. At some point, our blood became linked to the swords, possibly even at their inception."

"Okay, wait a second," Abby said as she closed her eyes. "You think an ancestor….made these swords….and created the Five in the process."

"Yes. You know as well as I do that our telekinesis doesn't work on things we've never seen, and Bonnie called these swords from another _continent_. Our locator ability doesn't stretch that far."

"Okay, so that means that our bloodline was in Italy at one point, but why? Why give five Hunters supernatural strength and resistance to find the cure?"

"To destroy it?" Lucy posited. "Make sure no one got their hands on it?"

Bonnie closed her eyes. "To kill Silas," she answered quietly.

"What do you know about killing Silas?" Abby inquired.

Bonnie opened her eyes. So she couldn't keep this a _complete_ secret like she'd planned. She couldn't sabotage her mother and Lucy while they were trying to figure things out. "I questioned April, this girl who serves Him, the one I was stealing the painting from?" She licked her lips. "An ancestor created these swords to kill the Man that an _older_ ancestor had buried alive. We're descendants of Qetsiyah, the woman who lived in Capernaum, the one who buried the cure with Silas."

Bonnie looked between the two women and waited for them to react.

Finally, Lucy said, "This is giving me bad omen vibes. Usually I'd be happy to learn about a new ancestor, but this…."

"What else did you learn from April?" Abby asked.

"I can't go into it."

"Excuse me?"

"I can't go into it, and I won't until I talk to Tyler. And I'd appreciate it if you guys didn't say anything to dad beforehand. He's already got enough to say about Tyler."

"What does Silas want with Tyler?" Abby asked.

"Nothing. It's about me, but I want to tell him first."

"_Bonnie,_" Abby chided.

"_Mom_, it's not up for discussion. Qetsiyah's our ancestor: that's plenty of information."

"I don't believe this." Abby got off of the bed and paced away. "We're talking about the fact that _our _ancestor entombed the Guy who's apparently marked a bullseye on her back, and she doesn't want to talk about it, because she has to talk to Tyler first. Do you believe this?!" she asked Lucy.

Lucy felt like a deer in front of a fast approaching car. She helplessly opened the palm of her left hand. "I guess that means we have our answer?"

"What answer?" Bonnie asked.

"We were all three wondering about the….nature….of your relationship….with Tyler," Lucy answered.

"Yeah, and if he's not your boyfriend, then I'm not a damn vampire," Abby said as she paced.

Bonnie was unfazed by Abby's ire. She was going to talk to Tyler first, and that was that. But in the meantime, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Please, child, we know he has a girlfriend," Abby retorted as she limply swatted Bonnie down with her right hand.

For the first time since Bonnie had met Abby, she vividly connected the woman to her grandmother. The tone and gestured of that response was Sheila Bennett down to a T, and she was taken aback by it. She gathered herself enough to say, "He doesn't have a girlfriend anymore, and he's _not _my boyfriend."

"He doesn't have a girlfriend anymore because of you?" Abby asked, so quickly that the nine words sounded like one.

"Okay, we're getting off topic," Lucy moderated.

"_Thank you. _Let's _not _talk about my love life."

"Why not? Talking about Silas is apparently off topic until Tyler approves!"

"Okay, will the two witches in this room calm _down_," Lucy commanded as she pressed her hands toward the floor.

"And stop calling me a witch," Abby turned on her, "Especially in front of her. This isn't happening anymore. I'm staying a vampire, because _you_," she thrusted her pointer finger at Bonnie, "Aren't going to Israel."

"We're not here to talk about me going to Israel," Bonnie shrugged innocently.

Abby widened her eyes dangerously.

"Bonnie, don't try her," Lucy said sternly. "Okay, do I need to separate you two for a minute? Whatever she learned is going to remain a secret until Tyler The Not Boyfriend finds out. And she's right, knowing that Qetsiyah is an ancestor is huge, because it means we can contact her directly."

"And say what?" Abby asked with exasperation.

"Ask her how to kill Silas? I don't trust those Hunters. Protected swords or not, they're humans going against an immortal witch. They're better suited to fight what their name links to: vampires. I don't know what our ancestor was thinking, and we don't even know where they are. We only have one Hunter."

"Maybe we can summon them like I did the swords," Bonnie suggested. "Silas is buried alive, which means He's weak. Maybe the Hunters are supposed to kill Him in the grave. Maybe _Jeremy_ can summon them, with one of the swords."

Lucy looked unconvinced.

"Lucy, the history of witchcraft isn't like that of something like medicine," Abby said. "Magic opened the imagination. Witches from back then may not have conceptualized things the way that we do now, but that doesn't mean their solutions for problems were always archaic."

"Not always, which means they sometimes were, right?" Lucy asked.

"Of course. That's the case for everything. For the longest time, White witches thought that Black witches _killed_ to get their powers, because we couldn't possibly be that evolved, let alone be more powerful than them a lot of the times. They used to call us Travelers, because we supposedly went from place to place stealing true witches' powers."

"I didn't know that," Lucy said. "I mean, I never thought that it was all kumbaya, but I didn't know we were ever called anything other than witches."

Bonnie was attentive and absorbed all of the information.

"It wasn't just Black witches," Abby sighed. "But that's a story for another time. But once upon a time, there were rumors that _our_ family, and other powerful lineages that weren't the majority in any given place, were made up of generation after generation of thieves."

"Okay, I get your point," Lucy said. "Maybe this ancestor knew what she was doing when she chose five mortals. But do you really want to leave Bonnie's safety up to them? Because, right or not, this ancestor made the Five to kill Silas, not to protect _her_."

Abby wiped her fingers across her left eyelid.

"Besides. We have one point for a Bennett being lethal with one of these," she said as she looked at the still floating sword, "And zilch for a Hunter."

Abby looked at Bonnie. She had killed that Original. She looked at Lucy and said, "Please tell me you're not suggesting that you two play Huntresses."

"I'm just saying that maybe we shouldn't be too quick to give these away."

"Bonnie killed a vampire, but you don't have any guarantees that it will do anything if wielded by a Bennett against _Silas_. Magical objects with owners are very particular. You know that. And you also know that the older an ancestor is, the harder it is to contact them, so Qetsiyah might not even show up. I'm not saying let's start a search party for these Hunters; I'm saying that I don't want to waste time concentrating on other things when we need to be convincing Bonnie to keep her foot off of Israeli soil."

"Right," Lucy said quietly, conceding to all of Abby's points.

"So let's move on to the son of a bitch who's been helping hurt her. Lucy told me about Shane," she said to Bonnie. "You think he's the one who set Klaus' sights on Tyler last night."

"I do, and I need to talk to him. And before you say anything," she rushed when Abby opened her mouth with a deep frown, "Think about the fact that Shane called Klaus with the full intention of giving Silas a third duodecad. At any moment, Silas will either be trying to tap into that energy or Shane will expect me to come running to him for help because Tyler's just been killed. Either way, there _is _no duodecad, and what do you think Shane's gonna do when he realizes that?"

"Wait, are you thinking about faking the twelve deaths?" Lucy asked.

"I wish I could, but Silas will want proof. I'm going to confront Shane. And I'm going to kill him, just like I said last night. But I can't do that until….I talk to Tyler."

Lucy and Abby gave each other a put-upon look.

Bonnie folded her lips against their little judgment. She could absolutely go to Shane's apartment right now. Except that when she got back and told Tyler, he would be completely hurt and disappointed. He's been pushing for them to do this fifty-fifty, and she couldn't be the one to set them back. He'd texted her that he was leaving town for a couple of hours, something that he did not have to do, considering it contained no risk. But he'd done it. And she owed him the same consideration. And while she could send him a text that she was heading to the apartment, she also knew that he would want to be there.

He could very well disagree and tell her not to go, but the point was about her being open with him. He didn't have to like or agree with what she wanted to do; he just had to know. They could very well argue about it, but at least he would know.

She was determined to not be self-destructive where they were concerned. Keeping him in the dark whenever a threat to her person arose, like she'd done with Jeremy, would only hurt his feelings and fracture whatever was between them. He's been giving her one hundred percent from the very beginning. She can give him the same. She wanted to.

"I'm all for cutting Silas' link," Abby resumed. "Killing Shane would do that. What we need to think about is the backlash that will come from that."

"There won't be any if He's cut off from the living world," Lucy said.

"He'd still have April," Bonnie pointed out.

"Who is this girl?" Abby asked.

"A Sophomore. Her father….was part of the first duodecad. I guess I should tell you guys that I visited the site of the first duodecad."

Abby closed her eyes. "Did you do this with _Tyler_?"

"Yeah," Bonnie harmonized.

Abby gave a curt nod and had herself a seat on a chair that was near the door. "What happened?" she asked as she put one leg over the other.

Bonnie recounted the visit. At the end, she said, "Tyler thought about us visiting the site in Eden, but we were afraid of how twelve dead witches would react."

"You were right to be afraid," Lucy said. "I'll go."

"No way. Either I'm going or no one's going. We don't need to let Silas know of another Bennett that He can target. And if the reason He's targeting me is because He's pissed at what Qetsiyah did, then that puts you at risk, too, mom, vampire or not. You guys have been surviving your stay in Mystic Falls. Let's not test it, _please_."

Lucy inhaled and took a seat next to Bonnie on the end of the bed, and Abby wiped the outer corner of her left eye.

"Anything else?" Abby asked the room.

"Uh yeah," Bonnie volunteered. "Remember the curse that I put on that Original two weeks ago? Well, it'll come into effect on Monday, and I think that something bad's coming with it. I think you were right about Clermeil being pissed or annoyed."

Abby turned a hard pair of eyes on her niece.

"For the tenth time, I'm sorry," Lucy whined. "I really thought she'd go to a Deity for help, and I got carried away with telling her about our origin, so I forgot to give her the….warning….about the Spirits," she finished quietly.

Bonnie twisted her mouth to the right to contain her smile. It was funny to see Lucy, who was twelve years Bonnie's senior, shrink in front of Abby.

Abby blinked at Bonnie and reminded her, "Spirits are embodiments of pure magical energy. They're temperamental. You do not ask Them for favors, especially if you don't worship Them. You don't channel Them, and you don't use Their magic. And even if you do worship Them, you don't involve Them in your mortal mess, and to Them: witches _are _mortal. They get offended. We're Spirit-blessed, but as far as I know no one in the family has ever dared ask Her for a favor. What has Clermeil been doing?"

"The day after I cursed Rebekah, our sink kept turning on by itself and toilets have been flooding at school. And ever since I figured out that He's behind it, I've been hoping He doesn't do something like….flood the quarry on Monday."

"Or dry up the falls," Abby added. "Or create a flash flood in town. The good news is that I've never heard of a Spirit getting angry enough to wipe out a town. Or the witch who summoned Them. Nothing could happen on Monday. Flooded bathrooms could be as far as He goes. It's possible that He just wanted to get on your nerves, play around with His powers, or any number of things. You're lucky that He didn't direct His powers toward you."

Bonnie twitched her lips. "I definitely have enough problems. So, if something bad does happen on Monday, how do I stop it?"

"You appease Him," Abby answered. "You apologize. Don't look at Him as the enemy or this evil force that you must stop. You went to Him, and He's not here to serve you. He's not a God."

"Great," Bonnie sighed, relieved to have a solution to that particular problem. "Let's just hope He's not too pissed for a simple apology."

"You should do it in a body of water," Lucy suggested. "Speak to Him on His turf. A bathtub should be enough."

"We'll be with you to make sure He doesn't do something like try to drown you," Abby said.

"Great," Bonnie deadpanned.

They fell into an easy silence, and Lucy finally floated the sword down.


	16. Chapter 16

**Part 16: Revel**

Caroline turned the car off and sat back against her seat. The Lockwood mansion stood in front of her, its quiet exterior belying the chaos that had raged inside the night before. And that would rage again tonight.

Bonnie had said that Tyler was out of town.

She closed her eyes and trained her ears on what was happening inside the house. No sound. She opened her eyes and realized that Klaus was probably listening for movement outside of the house. He has surely been waiting for Tyler to come back. He had probably heard the car pull up.

She unclasped her seatbelt and stepped out of the car. She reached inside for her phone and tucked it inside of her right back pocket. She locked the car and set for the house, wondering if Klaus would be able to tell from the footsteps that it wasn't Tyler. Did he know how she walked?

She arrived at the front door and gingerly twisted the knob and pushed it open. She walked past the staircase and entered the area where the blood from Tyler's arms stained the white floor. She craned her neck but didn't see Klaus standing at the threshold of the living room like she had been expecting.

"Klaus?" she called carefully.

The Original Hybrid walked up to the threshold. He looked drunk in the way that he usually did when he was primed to kill someone. His mangled face just added to the effect. Tyler had told her that his wounds persisted because Klaus was an Alpha, so she knew that the state of Klaus' face was Tyler's doing.

The living room looked like a hurricane had gone through it. He'd broken everything that could be broken, torn down everything that was hanging, and some of it had even been thrown onto her side of the seal. The only things still in their rightful place were the chairs and couch.

Caroline swallowed. "Hi."

"Where are the others?"

"It's just me."

"I doubt that." He began to pace. "This is the part where you play decoy, right, where you're thrusted forward to butter me up? Tell Tyler that I'd rather skip the appetizer and get right to the main course."

"There is no trick, Klaus. It's just me. No one else is coming. Tyler's out of town."

"Good. Tell him to stay there. Better yet: tell him to run. It'll make killing him that much more gratifying if I have to chase him down to do it."

"The only person dying today is you."

"So you've come to pay your respects, love?"

"I've come to tell you that it didn't need to be this way," she plead. "It didn't have to get to the point where the only option was for you to die. All you had to do was leave Tyler alone, free him, free all of the Hybrids, and….we wouldn't be having this conversation."

"There is no conversation," he paced.

"I rooted for you."

He stopped pacing.

"I rooted for you….to change, to make it."

"Root for me today."

"I can't do that. I will never root for you over Tyler. I've _seen _you ruin his life."

"And yet, here you stand. Does he know?"

"We broke up," she said quietly.

"So he doesn't know."

"Did you hear what I said?"

"I've kind of got more important things on my mind, love: my Hybrids have turned against me. You'll have to find someone else to lend you an ear."

"I don't want you to lend an ear, I just….I don't even know why I'm here. I was in the car, and I could've gone anywhere, and….I chose to come here, because I wanted to….say goodbye. You didn't have to be like the rest of your family. You didn't have to succumb to your nature."

"Something tells me that my nature is why you're here," he said slowly. "You look….dejected." And then he remembered. "You and Tyler have been broken up for months. Because of his infidelity with Hayley."

"That was a ruse to hide what they were doing. This is for real. He cheated on me, so I guess the whole ruse was an omen. He cheated on me with Bonnie."

"Bonnie Bennett, the witch?" he frowned.

"Only one in town. Apparently, there are some things she has that I don't."

"I'm sure Bonnie is a nice young lady, but I find it hard to imagine anyone turning you down."

"I don't support him enough."

"Now _that_ is a lie."

She smiled sadly. "Tell me about it. But that's what he feels."

Klaus smiled and leaned against the door frame. "So tell me: now that Tyler is out of the picture, do I stand a chance?"

Caroline scoffed quietly. "You can't be my boyfriend, Klaus. You're too….you."

"I am changing, love. I'm making an effort. You inspire me. And say I kill Tyler today-"

"You won't."

"Would you cry for him?" he asked, changing the question he was going to ask. "Which would be worse, losing the boy who doesn't want you or losing the man who does?"

Caroline's lips parted. "I grew up with Tyler. I love him. He deserves to beat you."

"I'm an avid listener, Caroline, and that didn't sound like an answer to my question."

"It would hurt more to lose him," she answered.

Klaus swallowed. "I see. I understand." He smiled. "I've known for a while now that I have what has long been labeled 'daddy issues.' I mean, how can I not when the man spent centuries hunting me down to kill me. But I never realized until now that I have mommy issues: loving a woman who has no regard for my life."

Caroline was taken aback by the comparison. "You can't….no, you can't do that. That's not fair. It's not like you're this innocent man, and I just want you dead. You _did _stuff, Klaus! You _do _stuff! How do you expect me to react? How do you expect _Tyler_ to react? _No_ one loves a monster!"

Her words sucked the air out of the room. She watched as sadness shadowed his face.

"And that's what I am," Klaus said. "It's what I was even before I became a vampire: a monster that my father couldn't love. The one that strained my parents' union."

Caroline closed her eyes. "You're not a monster. Not completely. You're the guy who's saved me. Granted, the first time was your fault, but….when Alaric took me….you're the one who came straight for me. You saved my life. And you did it again when pastor Young took me. You left your own sister, and you saved _me_. You've bought me jewelry and an expensive dress, and you drew my picture, and….and you say you love me. I know that you're in love with me. I just don't know why. You've had a world of women."

"You'd be surprised," he said.

"Still. You're a thousand years old, rich, powerful. What the heck do you see in me?"

On any day that wasn't this one, she could walk past Klaus with her head held high and know that he was going to follow. But today, she wanted to hear what he saw in her. She wanted the reassurance, especially since he was going to die. Ever since she had realized that his infatuation was here to stay, there had been a part of her that had been afraid that it would go away, that he would just stop liking her, stop finding her interesting, change his mind. She'd had a boyfriend whom she'd loved, but still. She hadn't wanted Klaus' feelings to go away. And today was that day: his feelings were going to be extinguished along with his life, and she wanted to hear them one last time. He has seen so much more than she has, done so much more. Why does _she _captivate him?

"I told you once before," Klaus said. "You are radiant. You are the girl with the heart of gold that's just a little bit black. And that fascinates me. Because I've met vampires with black hearts; they're a dime a dozen. I've met people with black hearts. But you're a mix, tipping on the side of good, and that intrigues me. On you, those qualities are enticing. An uneven mix: it's how you can want Tyler to kill me and yet still be here _with _me, telling me that you feel for me, looking sad _for _me. Because that sadness: it's not all because of your breakup with Tyler, is it, Caroline? Some of it's for me, too."

"Yes," she answered somberly. "Some of it's for you, too."

Klaus swallowed. And he took the leap. "Do you love me, Caroline?"

Caroline crossed her arms and looked away.

"Please. If you truly believe I'm a dying man, then what's the harm in divulging your secrets? It's all going with me to the grave."

"I _don't _let myself think about it," she said curtly.

"Think about it now. Are you in love with me? Have I miraculously managed to inspire that kind of emotion in someone like you?"

Caroline squeezed her eyes shut tight.

"I won't tell anyone-"

"I like you," she blurted, opening her eyes. "Okay? It's not love. It's like. I like you. I like...the way you are with me."

Klaus nodded humbly, and his lips twitched with a smile. "It's a start. One I've never had before."

Silence stretched between them.

Finally, Klaus said, "Come here."

"No."

"Caroline, I won't hurt you."

"_No_. That's the problem, Klaus. I don't believe that. I don't believe that your love for me is greater than your anger. If it was Tyler in there or anyone else, I would've walked _in _to have this conversation. Because I only like you when you're not _scaring _me to death, because you _do _scare me."

"I promise I won't hurt you." He was almost pleading. "If this is my last day on earth, I would like to….to touch you. To at least touch you."

Caroline believed him. She believed him, and she was conscious of how dangerous that was. She believed him, but that didn't mean that she was right to do so.

"I can't," she apologized, her eyebrows high on her head. "I can't." She started to back away. "I'm sorry."

"Caroline," Klaus called. "Caroline, please. Don't leave! Caroline!"

"I'm sorry!" she called back, and she ran out of the house.

She heard him yelling her name and yelling for her to please come back.

* * *

In the Hopkins-Bennett home, Bonnie sat at her desk with her left hand under the left side of her neck and read chapter eight of her American Government textbook. She had been lying on her stomach on her bed and swinging her feet when she'd suddenly remembered that she has homework due on Monday.

There were more than six hours left before the day's main event. She couldn't go see Shane yet, and she was not interested in watching anything on tv. Oddly, however, she could concentrate on homework, and she was having an easy time reading through the chapter. In exchange for not taking the next test, they had to read three chapters and take notes for class discussions that would take place this week, and that would be their grade.

She was summarizing a paragraph on the launch of the new United States of America when her phone rang. She picked it up and saw Tyler's name on the display screen. Worried, she dropped her pen and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey," Tyler greeted.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine. I'm calling because I just read your text. Are you okay?"

She felt her body relax. "I'm fine. Yeah, it was just….she's mad and hurt, and so she came for the jugular. Figuratively speaking. And she has every reason to. But I gave as good as I got, so it's okay."

"What did she say?"

"It's nothing that we need to go over. It's fine. I promise. If I hadn't been so irritated, I wouldn't have even texted you."

"Well, I'm glad you were irritated then, because I want to know, Bonnie. I know Caroline, and while she's not a bully, she can be. We have that in common. If she has reason, and you give her an inch, she will take a mile. I don't want her dumping on you. This is between me and her."

Bonnie smiled. "I'm not gonna let her push me around. But there was one thing: she went rogue and asked April about the painting before I could do the ritual, so us trying to avert Shane finding out is a bust."

"Are you kidding me? Why would she do that?"

"Because she didn't think it was a big deal. But she did apologize."

"That's great."

He still sounded annoyed.

"But Ty, Shane's expecting twelve sacrifices, probably before the weekend's over, so I want to confront him soon."

"You can't go over there by yourself."

"I knew you were gonna say that," she said with a smile. "But I don't think it's a good idea for you to come with me; he _did _just try to kill you. I just want you to know what I'm planning; I'm going by myself after we take care of Klaus."

"No. Listen, I can stand at the end of the street or around the corner, but you're not going without me. Okay? I'll be fine. It'll be me and you. He won't be able to touch me. And he won't touch you."

She smiled. "Okay."

"Bon, are you sure everything's okay? You sound kind of down."

"I think I kind of am. I'm doing homework right now, but I had a long talk with my mom and cousin earlier, and before that my dad and I kind of got into it over you, and they're all still tense about me possibly dying, and there was Caroline earlier, plus all the shit I learned from April, and I'm positive that Clermeil is going to cause trouble on Monday, and I'm just….I just want one of us to have a major victory. I'm ready to kill Klaus."

"We will. And then we're gonna take care of you. We're gonna take care of Clermeil, and we're gonna take care of all of it. And Bonnie?"

"Yeah?"

"Caroline's not my girlfriend; she's my ex. And as soon as possible, you and I are gonna take some time. It might not be the weekend we want, but we're gonna take some down time, okay?"

She smiled and bit the bottom left corner of her lower lip. "Okay. I want that," she added.

Tyler smiled, loving the way she voiced the desire. He had company, but he still said, "I'm gonna give it to you."

Bonnie inhaled, her spirits suddenly higher than they were mere minutes before. "Are you on your way back?"

"No, we're still driving out."

"Are the others ready for Klaus?"

"Oh yeah. They're ready."

"Then I'll see all of you later. Lucy and I are going to do the spells in your backyard."

He was happy that she was going to be that close. "I'll see you later, then," he said.

Bonnie heard the small smile in his voice. "Be safe."

* * *

_If you truly believe I'm a dying man, then what's the harm in divulging your secrets? _

Caroline broke through to where she could see the Lockwood mansion.

She came back. She'd realized fifty-four minutes ago that she had wanted to come back, and letting those fifty-four minutes pass before making her way back had almost killed her. She was not one for delayed gratification. But she had not wanted to give Klaus the satisfaction of her walking back in the house six minutes after she had left.

She had parked her car on the next block, contemplated her decision, and then waited. Then she'd walked back to the Lockwood mansion. She was proud of herself, because she knew that making someone sweat was exactly the kind of move that Klaus would pull.

She walked across the driveway, and when she pulled the door open this time, it was with a lot more confidence. And this time, Klaus _was _standing at the threshold when she arrived.

"I didn't hear the car," Klaus said. He'd been in such a sad stupor that he hadn't registered that anyone was on the property until he heard the door open.

"I didn't use the car," she stated. She stopped at the spot where she'd stood before, her arms hanging at her side. "Were you telling the truth when you said you haven't had a lot of women?"

"The paucity of women that I've been with is actually quite embarrassing. Not the kind of information you want to share with the woman you're hoping to court."

"Well, this woman wants to hear it."

Klaus lowered his head and began, "My first experience was when I was alive. There was a girl in our village, blonde, most of us were blonde, and Elijah pointed out to me that she liked me. I was perhaps seventeen and infatuated with a girl named Tatia, the genesis of the Petrova doppelgangers, as was my brother Elijah. I at first thought that my brother sought to trick me, to lure my attention away from Tatia, but then I saw the value of the girl's crush on me. I figured that having another girl's attention would make me more appealing to Tatia. So I indulged the girl. We never had a real conversation, but we shared many flirtatious looks. The village was having a birthday party for one of the oldest women in our flock one night, and she led me away. And she…performed on me. And that was that. The second-"

"Wait a second. A girl goes down on you, and you just….leave it at that?"

"I wasn't the rambunctious young man you're imagining in your head."

He had orgasmed quickly. He doesn't remember whether the experience was good or bad. He just remembered how ashamed he'd felt immediately afterward. His father's voice had barged into his head and humiliated him for peaking so fast. Here was another activity where he was sure that his father would be more proud of his brothers than of him.

He had tucked his penis in his pants while the girl had been wiping her chin. She had asked him if he liked it. He'd mumbled a, "Yes. Thank you," while fastening his pants, and then he'd left her and never looked at her until the day he'd died. After he had turned and realized how his siblings were reacting to the villagers, he had given the newly pregnant girl and her new husband a warning and gotten them away from the village.

"The second woman I was with was Greta Martin, the witch who broke my curse. We did go….all the way, as you would say. That was my first time. I've been….pleasured….over the centuries, but…it never went further than that. I have pleasured….with my mouth…..once. And it wasn't Greta."

"Was it Katherine?" she asked with bated breath. The quick look of _why would you think that? _on his face right before he answered made her want to smile.

"No. Never. We both served as a means to an end for each other, except I think she at one point caught real feelings for me. Much to my brother's chagrin."

Caroline was satisfied with the answer. Klaus was in love with her now, but she didn't want him to have had intimate history with anyone who looked like Elena. It was bad enough that the youngest vampire in Mystic Falls could claim a historical tie to Klaus that she could not. Two historical ties, as a matter of fact. Elena had told her about the Mikaelson brothers' feud over Tatia, and it had made her feel like it was only a matter of time before Klaus switched his attention from her to Elena. But lo and behold.

"How come there are only two women worth mentioning by name after a thousand years?" she asked.

Klaus averted his gaze.

She slowly stepped closer to the barrier that separated them. "I didn't come back to laugh at you or make fun of you. I came back because I care. This could be my last chance to learn something about you," she said, not realizing that she was doing what Klaus had underlined earlier: subconsciously doubting that Tyler could really beat him.

Klaus looked at her and answered after a beat. "It's not just me, you know. Just so you don't think that I'm some…..Rebekah cannot let anyone in unless she fancies herself in love with them. I count three men over her lifetime. Elijah has only ever been in love with one woman. His sexual appetite is as dulled as mine. Kol talks a big game-Kol _talked_ a big game. But he was shaky on the follow-through. And Finn, the oldest, only loved one woman and devoted his body to her. Now I'm no therapist, but you could say….that suffering the ultimate betrayal of our parents murdering us in cold blood and then selling it to us that it was for our own good….severely crippled our ability to create true intimacy with another person."

Caroline stared at him, floored by the reveal. This was the side of him that inspired warmth within her. This was the side of him that made her think that he has potential.

"It takes everything in me to keep trying after you reject me, Caroline."

"I don't reject you," she promised. "It's just….not simple." And she knew that his declaration of calling upon incredible fortitude to keep trying in the face of her rejections wasn't a complete truth. Klaus liked to break people's resolve. He wasn't some bleeding heart romantic.

"Well, I hope you're satisfied with my answers," he said, letting his arms flap against his thighs.

He turned from her and walked to the couch, and Caroline knew that he did not believe her reasoning. He was feeling exposed, naked, an emotion she knew he tried his damndest to avoid on a daily basis.

"I'm not your mother," she declared.

Klaus turned from the couch and looked at her.

Caroline heaved her chest and stepped inside of the room. She walked and walked until she was standing in front of him. She wasn't afraid of him hurting her anymore. She was sure that all of the anger had been drained out of him after the hour he had spent in her absence, plus all that he had forced himself to reveal. The anger was on the backburner for now. And she needed to move within that window and remember to watch for any signs of it coming back. Because then she would be in trouble.

"I'm not like any girl you've ever met," she said, and the declaration made her feel sexy, confident, his equal, his seductress. He had made his temptation by her clear. Now she was giving him what he wanted.

She grabbed the hem of her burgundy, long-sleeved, shirt and slipped it over her head. She dropped it on the floor and watched him swallow in response. She dropped on one knee and took off one ankle boot and ankle sock, then she switched and took off the others. She stood and took her phone out of her back pocket and threw it on the couch behind him. Her black jeggings went next, slow, every inch of pale skin revealed like a long-kept secret.

He grew more and more stoic with every article of clothing that she shed, and the closing of his expressions only strengthened her resolve. He was holding himself together.

She reached behind her to the clasp of her bra, and he said, "Stop." He sped up to her, and her lips parted in anticipation. Still with that stoicism, he gingerly slipped two sets of fingers behind the cups of her bra. His eyes on her, he pulled the cups away from her breasts, tugged them hard in opposite directions and ripped the bra in half.

Caroline gasped as her breasts spilled down for his consumption. He pushed the bra off of her, stepping closer to slide them down the back of her arms. When he stepped back to take a nice long look, Caroline felt more exposed than if she'd taken the bra off herself, and she loved it. He slipped his hands down her underwear, the back of his hands brushing her muff, and he tore the garments in an uneven half. She jumped and licked her lips, and he slid them down using the tips of his fingers. She felt them slide down to the floor, and he stepped back again to look at her form.

Caroline stepped to the right side of the tattered garments.

Klaus kept staring, simply stared, and she let him look his fill, the fact that she was on display was turning her large, dark pinky-orange nipples into hard buttons. She brought her right hand up to play with one while she rubbed the blonde hairs on her mound with her left hand. Her Type A mentality didn't extend to how she kept her mound. She had tried the clean shaven existence as well as the 'just a strip' existence, and she preferred it covered with hair. Neat. But more than a little hairy. It was the one part of herself where she did not insist on control.

Klaus had expected her to be clean-shaven, but she always surprised him. He walked up to her and picked her up, and she wrapped her long legs around him. He kissed her, and his hold on her thighs turned punishing as desire swelled in his loins.

He turned around and walked to the couch and laid her down. Caroline stopped the kiss a second to move the phone from under her back to the floor, and they resumed kissing, rushed and hungry. The dam had broken, and he could finally have her, and she could finally have him.

Klaus wasn't gentle. He had sometimes imagined them doing it gently, but they could do gentle next time. He squeezed her left breast and tweaked the nipple hard enough to make her gasp.

He stopped and took off his coat and shirt. "Tell me if you want slower."

"I don't want slow," Caroline responded. She sat up, and her fingers flew over his pants as she undid it and yanked it down his thighs. Before she could go for his boxers, he pushed her down on the couch by her collarbone and ravaged her mouth again. She was excited to have him stroking and bringing her to completion. Being with him was turning out to be as thrilling as she had never allowed herself to fully fantasize. She lifted her head off the couch, pushing back against him in the kiss.

Klaus moved his hand down to her vulva and stroke her slit with his knuckle. He then moved his middle finger to her entrance. He stopped the kiss and said, "You're wet for me, Caroline."

Caroline looked up at him. "I am."

"For _me_," he reiterated, because he wasn't going to let the perfect opportunity to remind her that she was giving in to the man that she so often condemned go by. He personally considered boasting to be one of his virtues.

"For you," she confirmed softly. She opened her mouth wider in anticipation when he pushed the finger inside of her. She licked her lips, and he growled as he took her lips again, and he began to move the finger in and out.

Caroline stroke the short hair on his head while her other hand roamed his back and pulled him to her. Once his finger was slick enough, once she became more wet, Klaus joined his index finger to the middle. His dick elongated another inch when she moaned.

Caroline moved her hand from his back to his ass and pulled him closer when he started to finger her faster. "I like it," she said. She was sleeping with a monster who had a soft spot for her, and she wanted to say it. The fact turned her on.

Klaus didn't let her orgasm. Before she was even close, he took his fingers out and undressed the rest of the way. He then positioned his dick at her entrance. Caroline wanted to jump out of her skin in anticipation. She closed her eyes as he edged the tip in, a smile playing on her lips, and then her eyes flew open when he snapped his hips forward and surged in the rest of the way, no ceremony involved.

"_Fuck_," she exhaled, grabbing on to his arms, her knees closing around his hips. He wasn't particularly thick, but the sudden thrust through her slick walls had ramped up her excitement. She grinned, starved for more, and her starvation was mirrored in his smile.

Klaus didn't let her adjust; he began to stroke immediately. He wasn't going to check with her about his methods again unless she gave a flat no. The expression on her face empowered him to keep going. He stroke rough and fast, and Caroline was ready to get fucked into the couch. She brought her legs up higher on his back to make him go deeper.

"Shit, yes. Klaus," she moaned through gritted teeth, and the way she was looking at him was exactly how Klaus had hoped she would look at him when he would picture himself masturbating while thinking about having sex with her.

He didn't masturbate.

He could count on one hand the number of times he'd done it. He didn't understand the appeal of self-pleasuring when it felt so much better to have someone else do it. If he wanted to pleasure himself, he wielded his power and influence over others. But ironically enough, he could imagine himself doing the act on a regular basis now that he had Caroline. Having sex with her on a regular basis, and he knew that she would fall into the figurative bed with him again after this, no matter what protest she may utter afterward, would mean that he would be aroused a lot more often. So he would need to masturbate when he wasn't physically with her.

But the way she was looking at him now: her eyes plead up at him and her forehead wrinkled in the same fashion. It was the vulnerable image he sometimes liked to see, the one he sometimes put on her face when circumstances called for him to treat her just like he treated the rest of her friends. It reminded him of the night that he had healed her of Tyler's werewolf bite and the day he had taken the duct tape from her mouth on the morning that he had freed her from Alaric.

He reached on his right to grab her elbow, and then he reached on his left and did the same. He pinned her hands together over her head with one of his and didn't miss a stroke.

Caroline had had it in her head to tell him a strong no if he tried to restrain her in any way, but in the heat of the moment, as rough as he was fucking her, having her hands locked actually turned her on. And then he did something that would guarantee him permission to restrain her hands for as long as he wanted. Without warning, he morphed his face. Veins streaked up to his eyelids; his grey eyes turned yellow, red, and black; his whole body turned extremely pale as it used the blood that powered it to uphold his antique vampire state. He was closer to death now than the bit of life that his werewolf side provided him, even though he bared all four teeth.

Unlike Tyler, Klaus was closer to his vampire side than his werewolf side. Because even though he occupied the lupine state in that moment, his body went down in temperature, not up.

She was staring into the face that had tormented countless people; the face that had killed and struck fear; the face that had enslaved and ruined lives. His violent acts have been used against her, that she could not forget, but the face itself, not matter how many times he had gotten angry at her, lashed out at her, he has never turned the face on her. The uneven vertical scars made him look even more vicious.

She wasn't a violent person. Stefan had called her a model vampire when he'd been training her. She'd nailed it in two days. Other than that one almost tragic encounter with Matt, she has maintained perfect control over her base nature. Elena has been a vampire for more than three months, and she was still struggling.

Her violent nature didn't pull her under like Damon's did to him time and time again. And she didn't thirst for blood the way Abby had when she'd been teaching her how to be a vampire for those three days.

But _Klaus' _violent tendencies, his violent nature, his violent _state_, they all pulled at her. She didn't want Stefan to be a Ripper because that was scary. She didn't view him as a killer, so she didn't want him to live as one. She wanted Damon to stop being violent because he was an asshole, and she hated him. She didn't want Elena to kill because that was her friend. And _she_ didn't kill senselessly because she still valued what it meant to take someone's life.

But Klaus. She wanted him to change, but she didn't want him to change completely. And she knew that he could never change completely. And that knowledge was partly why she was so vocal about him changing in the first place. Deep down, she knew it was futile, so there was no harm in insisting. It was the scary killer with a soft spot for her that attracted her. She wasn't sure what she would do if he became a nice guy with a soft spot for her. Tyler was a nice guy. Matt was a nice guy. She's had nice guys. She _wanted _a nice guy for a boyfriend.

But Klaus. Perhaps it was some defect. Maybe something had gone wrong and the part of her that was _supposed _to crave performing violent acts and total sadism was broken, and now she could only indulge it through someone like Klaus. And maybe that something had gone wrong because she had been killed by a doppelganger.

Even though Katherine's blood hadn't been the blood that turned her.

No matter the reason behind it, she wasn't reasoning things out at the moment. She revelled in Klaus' violent nature. On normal days, it messed with her morality, but in this moment, she tightened her walls around his cock as he fucked her hard enough to make her slide on the cushions, and she revelled in his deadly face. He hissed, that vampire sound, and her clit throbbed in response.

"_Yes_," she exclaimed.

Power rolled within Klaus, the need to dominate and give her more of what she clearly enjoyed drove him, and it all mixed to form his desire. He tightened his hold on her wrists and used his other hand to grab a chunk of the hair on top of her head and pulled it down toward the couch.

"Fuck, _yes_," Caroline plead. She grunted savagely and shifted. She only did this on some occasions with Tyler, but she shifted now, and her body got colder, deader, blue veins could be seen under her breasts that were jerking back and forth. She lost some feeling in her body, but she became more sensitive at the same time.

She hissed up at Klaus, and he tugged harder at her hair, and she yelled, "_Fuck me hard!_" bloodshot eyes wide and demanding.

It was as if speaking broke her body, took away the last of its resistance. She came hard, her eyes rolling to the back of her head, her head digging into the couch, mouth open wide. She planted her outside leg at an angle on the side of the couch and undulated her hips desperately against his pelvis as her pussy emptied a small pool of liquid.

Klaus had never slept with a vampire before. He had no idea how they orgasmed, no idea that it was this monstrously erotic. Caroline came like the most beautiful artwork he had ever laid eyes on, and the masterpiece made his balls sag with come.

* * *

He figured that he had to stop stroking and let her calm down. And he learned something else: vampires can shake. Fear doesn't do it, pain doesn't do it, not even when they're suffering from the effects of vervain, but this remnant of a biological process: it does it.

He was sitting on one knee, the other on the floor, and he was watching blood flow in the veins under her eyes, watching it streak over her ashen breasts, and then it all disappeared when she unwittingly shifted back to her normal visage.

"I liked that," he complained.

"It's not like you didn't put yours back, too."

He smiled. He looked down at his pelvis and then at the couch between her opened thighs and said, "You made a bit of a mess."

Caroline sat up halfway and looked. She could feel the wetness on her vagina, but there was a little bit more on the couch. She grinned and looked up at him. Then she looked at his dick. "For a guy who hasn't come in a while, you sure have lasting power."

"I'm an Original. And a Hybrid." And he didn't walk around being turned on. "I'm sure all of it is supernatural stamina."

"Well, I'm not complaining," she said as her grin simmered down to a smirk. "Are you close?"

"I think. I'm not sure. Now that it's over….um…."

He looked away.

She saw him sliding back to that embarrassed and ashamed guy. It endeared him to her at the same time that it broke her heart. She sat up completely and folded her inner leg in front of her. "I liked it," she said, hoping to make him feel better. "It was really good. The best I've had in a while. I haven't had sex in months."

"Tyler has really fallen down on the job," he said.

The mention of Tyler's name didn't snap guilt into her. As a matter of fact, she said, "Let's not talk about him." She put a strong hold on Klaus' dick and said, "I like how rough you were, how _hard_. I liked it a lot. It felt really good."

She felt him twitch in her hand.

"You were really good," he said, the compliment sounding awkward on his tongue. He wasn't used to this process. How did people speak after sex? "You were amazing," he said honestly.

He tried to figure out a way to tell her that he liked the way she took what he dished out. So he said, "I like the way you took it."

The way he said it made Caroline fold her lips to hold in her chuckle.

Klaus closed his eyes in mortification. "I'm sorry. I wanted that to sound a lot better."

"It's okay," she said with a big smile. "I think it's adorable. And honest. I prefer that than you trying to be something you're not. I prefer it so much, as a matter of fact, that I'd like to be the third named woman to….go down on you. Suck your dick," she amended after she quickly wondered if he would be turned on by dirty talk. "I wanna suck your dick, Klaus."

She had her answer when his cock twitched again. The same stoicism from before slid over his face.

Still holding his dick, she got off the couch and kneeled on the floor. Klaus fixed himself so that both of his feet were on the floor. Caroline kept her gaze on him and leaned forward, only averting her gaze when she placed a kiss in the middle of his hairy chest. She created a trail of soft, full kisses, down, down, and down, all the way to his pelvis. And then she licked her way up his tool.

Klaus has watched a couple of women pleasure him orally, but it hasn't been this nerve-wracking since the first time he'd had the experience. He worried about coming too quickly again, even though he hasn't done so since the second time he'd gotten a blowjob. The second time, he hadn't thanked the girl. He had simply deadpanned, "You can go."

But Caroline was doing it now, and he was worried. But she was enveloping his cock in the cool of her mouth, and she looked experienced and at home, and it felt good.

Caroline felt pleasure from sucking his dick. She almost felt like she was sucking royal dick. Even though some people had gotten this close, not many people _got_ this close; she was sure that he'd never had _this_ experience. He was all but a virgin, as far as she was concerned, and she's never been with a virgin before. She would count the first girl because that had been his first sexual experience, but none of the ones after that mattered.

She gave him everything, did her best work, and she even licked down on his balls until he understand what she wanted. He slouched on the couch and pushed his hips forward so that more of his balls were exposed.

Caroline stopped licking and said, "Come here."

She backed up on her knees as he stood, and when he walked to her, she held his thighs and craned her neck to kiss his balls. He widened his stance, so she scooted forward, bent on her thighs and proceeded to try to fit his balls in her mouth.

Klaus was shocked and amazed. His cock thrusted forward, he dipped his balls in her mouth. She alternated between nursing herself on one of his ballsacs and opening her mouth wide to fit him in.

Caroline's cheeks were puffed out, but she did fit him in. She'd never done this with Tyler, had never thought too, but the comparison flitted at the back of her mind that Tyler's balls were larger. She probably couldn't have fit him.

Klaus opened his eyes and drank in the image of the apples of her ass spread over the floor as she lavished her attention on his balls. "You're perfect," he murmured.

Caroline uttered a long moan around his balls in response. She moved her hands from his thighs to the floor and nursed on his sacs. They were peppered with hair, but of course his supernatural status meant that none of them shed into her mouth.

"Oh my God," he sighed, and the utterance surprised him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd spoken God's name. But he was feeling incredible.

And he wanted her mouth on his dick again. So he took wet sacs away, and Caroline licked her lips. Klaus then held his cock out, and she straightened onto her knees and took him in. He threw his head back and groaned.

After a time, he slipped his hand into her hair and used it to pull her head back. "Come on," he said.

His face was transformed again, and Caroline was glad, because her pussy was feeling a little airy and empty. He pulled her up by her hair, and she was ready.

He walked her to the couch, and she said, "I want you to sit."

Klaus stopped and softened his hold on her hair. She turned and stepped back in order to sit him down. "Sit," she said. "And we didn't go over it, but there is one rule: no biting."

"I want to be inside you," he said around his four teeth, his voice spewing the passion that his once again stoic face lacked.

"You will be," she promised as she broke into a wanton grin.

When she had stepped inside of the seal, she had imagined them having a go once and then they'd stop, and she'd put her clothes on, and they would say some last words, and then they'd part, most likely with a promise from him that he would see her again.

But she had orgasmed, and it had felt amazing beyond her most erotic dreams, and he hadn't come, and she couldn't just leave him, and while she could have ignored his direction and kept sucking, she wanted him inside of her again. She wanted to come again. She wanted that face again.

So she put one knee on one side of him and the other on the other side. She grabbed his dick under her, and she sank onto it.

Klaus licked his lips as more of him went inside of her. Once she was settled, he teased, "You're gonna have to fuck me hard, too."

She grinned. "I will."

And she did. She started off at a good pace, not slow, but not fast either. She rocked back and forth, her hands braced beside his shoulders on the back of the couch. He slouched so that he could look down at where their bodies met.

After she increased her pace to where she was outright fucking him, she modified the position by lifting off of him and untucking her legs from under her. She moved her hands from the couch to his shoulders, and then she used her calf and thigh muscles to lift herself up and plop back down, and thus she resumed fucking him and piercing herself with his dick.

This slowed down her orgasm. She was leaning forward a little because of her hands on his shoulders, because of the degree to which he was slouching, so the angle at which his dick hit her inner walls changed and felt amazing.

"_Turn_," Klaus commanded as she whined from the incredible feelings that she was eliciting from herself.

Caroline turned and immediately felt the difference when his dick slid into her walls this time. She felt it more keenly.

Klaus remembered how she'd reacted when he'd twisted her nipple, and so he took control of the bobbing marbles. He pinched them harder than a human could support, hard enough to cause pain to a vampire.

"Ugh, yes, keep doing that," Caroline encouraged gutturally as she jounced, and Klaus liked the juxtaposition between her plain, normal voice and her grotesque face. That was how he saw her. That was who she was: girl with the heart of gold that's just a little bit black; the perfectionist pageant queen who was literally dead inside; the caring friend to all who loved her who was at present reaping her greatest pleasure from the Hybrid whom those same friends feared. Grotesque and normal. The combination attracted him, and he wanted to stoke more of the grotesque, more of the girl who could put aside his crimes long enough to take her clothes off for him.

And that was when he figured out how he was going to provoke his orgasm. It would either send her running from him, cursing his name, and ruin what they were sharing now, or it would solidify her link to him and make him fall deeper in love with her. He was going to take a gamble.

Caroline came with his thumbs and index fingers clamped and pulling on her nipples. The sensational attention on her nipples made her wish he could do something to her clit, but she didn't want to take the attention away from her aching nipples. She told him to do it harder, and this time she came with her eyes closed, mouth open, fangs bared as she lost control of her hips, head snapped forward.

* * *

They did it a third time.

She was on her back, in the same position as the first time, her arms pinned, her face out, her legs as high on Klaus' back as she could lift them, his dick maniacally plunging into her in Tyler's house.

At this rate Caroline was hoping that he never orgasmed. She wanted to feel this amazing for the rest of the day, this special for the rest of the day because she was positive that this was the most and the best sex that Klaus has ever had, and it was all with her.

But he was being louder than the previous two times; he was cursing, and his grunts and yells mixed with hers. She had a feeling that he would come this time. But she looked forward to that, too, looked forward to him spilling inside of her. Fucked into a frenzy, she wanted to have all of him.

"_Damn it_," Klaus panted. He removed his free hand from the back of the couch and pulled the last move that she liked. He pinched her nipple between his strong fingers.

The pain sparked a sharper explosion of pleasure in Caroline's brain than she was already feeling, and she coiled under him as she stared up at his vamped face. The delectable pain continued when he squeezed the straining marble anew, and blood rushed through her sensitive body.

"Please, please; yes, yes. Yes! Yes!" she shouted as her body coiled in pleasure. Her orgasm swung closer to her reach. "Please keep going; please fuck me."

"What do you want?" he baited her.

"Please fuck me."

"What?"

"Fuck me."

"_What?_"

"Fuck me! Fuck me, fuck me; gimme your Hybrid dick, pinch my nipples, make it so I can't move! I want all of it!"

"All of it?"

"All of it! Make me come, Klaus, I know you can. I want you."

"All of me?"

"All of you!"

"All of me?!"

"All of you! I _want _it! Give it to me; make my _pussy_ come! Yes!" she yelled as his hips continued to snap against hers. It was the best fuck she'd ever had, and she was glad that it had not happened before today. It wouldn't have felt the same when she was human; she wouldn't have wanted it like this when she was human. Today, now, it was perfect.

"How long as has it been Caroline? All those months. All of your resistance. How does it feel now?"

"_Fucking…..Amazing_!" she cried, and she closed her eyes as her body rocked.

It was perfect. Klaus let go of her nipple for one second, and then he pinched it as he hissed. "_Open your eyes_," he commanded. "Look at me. _Look _at me." He pinched her nipple again and swooped his veiny face down closer to hers and charged from his throat, "Look at me. I killed Tyler. Held his body shaking with fear and _snapped _his neck. The _blood, _Caroline."

"Oh my…._God_!" she screamed as he pinched her nipple again, and she orgasmed, her eyes fastened on his face that somehow looked more cruelly gruesome now than before he'd spoken those words. Those words called forth images in her mind, images of him standing strong and powerful over the bodies from which he'd stolen life, his mouth bloody, his hands taut with murder, images of him wielding strength unparalleled by anyone else, and her urethra flooded. "Yes, yes, yes!"

"I killed him. The _blood_, Caroline," and he repeated it, giving her both pictures, and the result of his gamble was that he fell deeper for her.

Caroline moved her head from side to side as her orgasm enveloped her completely. She closed her eyes, and there was a curtain made of blood behind her lids, dead humans, werewolves, witches, Hybrids, and vampires behind it, for he had dipped his hand in everyone and inspired fear in everyone.

The murder, the very thing that had made her hesitant toward him, made her turn her nose up at him, made her storm away from his presence countless times, the murder was what made her come now, and Klaus drank it all up, and he orgasmed, pushing his semen into her with every heavy stroke.

* * *

"We can do it again," Klaus voiced from his seated position on the couch.

He had laid on top of her after he had orgasmed until his body had stopped shaking. He had pulled out and lifted off of her to take a seat five minutes ago.

He stroke a hand up one of the smooth legs that lay on his thighs. "Are you ready?"

"We shouldn't," Caroline said as she stared at the ceiling.

"But you want to," he guessed.

She smiled and looked down the length of her body at him. "Of course I want to. That was deliciously intense." His come had settled in her pussy.

"Then there's no reason why we shouldn't."

Her smile slipped and she swallowed. "No," she said as she returned her gaze to the ceiling. "I can't stay here longer. I don't know when…."

She thought better of saying his name. "I can't stay."

Klaus perused her face. She looked contemplative, but not of anything in particular. She certainly wasn't engaging in an ethical crisis about what had driven her over the edge and into her third orgasm.

"I should go," Caroline said, and she sat up and headed out of the room.

"So abruptly?" Klaus asked, though he made no move to stand.

She looked over her shoulder and smiled. "I'm just gonna go clean up."

She walked out to where Tyler had been bleeding on the floor the night before, her gaze skipping the sight, and she headed to the bathroom.

Klaus stretched out on the couch, a giant grin on his face. He was very intrigued about how things were going to develop, going forward. Maybe he wouldn't kill Tyler tonight. Maybe he'd simply kill whoever came along with him. That would be the young Hybrid's first lesson. The second would be what had transpired, and would surely transpire again, between him and Caroline today. That mental and emotional torture would be a far more gratifying outcome for Tyler than death. Tyler would surely lose it, try to get Caroline back, and she would surely return to him in a valiant attempt to reject the side of her that _he _saw more clearly than everyone else in her life.

It could be so very interesting.

As a matter of fact, he wondered if he should say something when he saw Tyler later. Caroline would be cross with him if he did, but it wasn't like he's never suffered her anger before. He could not simply put aside his desire to show Tyler which one of them was truly in charge.

He wasn't afraid of turning Caroline away for good. She always humored him again eventually. And today was the best example yet.

His eyes fell on the phone that she had deposited on the floor. He looked at the archway where she had exited, and then he extended his hearing to listen for her. She threw something away. Then he heard what he realized was rolls being lifted off of a toilet paper. She was going to wipe again.

He stood and walked to the Nokia Lumia. He toyed with an idea as he picked it up.

It didn't require a passcode. It was as if the heavens smiled down on him.

He opened the camera application.

He had so many options. He could take a picture of himself, of the wet spot that had grown on the couch and that was now accompanied by small drops of his semen. He could even sit down and take a picture of his dirty penis. Or his face.

He looked at the placement of his clothes and hers. Then he moved them into two piles next to each other, his and hers, with her torn bra and knickers lying on top of her pile. He stepped back and snapped a clear picture. With a small smile, he tapped _share_ and went into her contacts to look for Tyler's name.

He heard Caroline coming back, so he hurriedly clicked Tyler's name, sent the picture, and closed the phone's display. He set it back where he'd picked it up, and he used his speed to put their clothes in the exact disarray that they'd been in before, and he reclaimed his seat on the couch.

Caroline walked in and found him with his arms spread out behind the couch and his head thrown back, and she smiled. She figured that he was relieving the experience.

She picked up her pants and slipped them on. The shirt went over her head next, and then she put on her socks and boots. When she stood, Klaus lowered his head to look at her.

"Um," she said as she looked at the state of his semi-erect dick. "Want me to bring you some toilet paper?"

"Please," he smiled.

She smiled and went off to get it. When she returned, he stood and met her halfway.

"Here," she said, holding it up to him.

He stared at her, a smile playing on his lips.

"Seriously?" she asked teasingly.

"I think I deserve it."

"Oh, don't go bragging now."

Still, she lowered the hand holding the paper and wiped his dick for him. Her body begged her to stay for another round.

She did want to taste his come.

"I'm going to try something," she said. "And you're not allowed to interrupt."

"Okay."

She got on her knees and set the paper aside. She picked up his cock and threw caution to the wind. Someone could come to the house. In that case, she would have to quickly make her way out by the pool area. Today was her last chance to experience everything that she wanted.

Plus her car wasn't in the driveway, so if she made it out, no one would know that she'd been here.

She slipped him into her thirsty mouth and blew him.

He eventually realized that he could fuck her mouth, and he put the epiphany to use. She had worked her throat to take all of him, so now he held her head and fucked her throat.

He paused to let her settle, and then he resumed, and so it went.

Eyes closed tight, Caroline gagged every time he fit the length of his dick down her throat, drool cascading from the sides of her mouth. She cupped her pussy through her pants as he fucked her, and she thought that this method of him pinning her was even more exciting than him holding her hands. Her supernatural makeup allowed her throat to handle the continuous intrusion.

When he was close to coming, he started to hold his cock down her throat, and Caroline swallowed as best she could to squeeze him, though it threw her into a coughing fit every time.

Finally, she sucked him until he released.

* * *

"I told you you could stay," Klaus murmured indulgently as she slowly licked his tip.

"Mmm," she responded, tasting his cool come. "But now I really have to go."

She sucked the tip one last time and swallowed him down, and then she stood and picked up the toilet paper, her bra, and her underwear. She couldn't leave anything behind.

She picked up her phone and put it in her back pocket. She walked to the couch next and used the garments to wipe and pat at their combined ejaculate. There was nothing that she could do about the leftover wetness. Being able to cast a spell would've come in very handy right now.

It wasn't some huge spot, but it was noticeable. And uneven. And there was distance between some of them. She only hoped that they'd be assumed as something else. Maybe some weird expulsion from the previous night's fight.

She turned to Klaus. "Okay, so, um, I should go."

"We disagree on that."

She smiled. "But I really should. Um." A boulder settled in the pit of her stomach as she realized that this was the part where she said goodbye. "So…." she walked sideways to the door, and he pivoted to watch her. "I trust you won't say anything about this. To Tyler. To anyone."

"Why would I?"

"I'm serious, Klaus. Don't make me regret this. This….this was special. And it should stay between us. Don't say anything, don't….gesture…..just don't. Okay?"

"I promise you, Caroline. I won't utter a word. This was indeed special, and how else am I going to make sure there's an encore if I go against your wishes?"

She nodded. "So, this is goodbye."

"It isn't," he assured her.

She didn't argue.

"I will kill him."

"That's not what I want."

"Yet it will happen. But I will spare him if I can."

"Goodbye, Klaus. Seriously." She turned and headed for the front door.

Klaus walked to the threshold to watch her.

When she was almost out of sight, she turned to look at him and a pang of sadness hit her heart. "I will miss you," she confessed.

Klaus wanted to say that he would miss her, too, just to play along with her prediction of tonight's outcome, but he simply looked at her.

With a weighty heart, she turned and continued for the door.

* * *

She made it to the car and wondered why she hadn't stopped by the bathroom to flush the toilet paper.

Shaking her head, she looked around and surreptitiously dropped it on the street, and then she unlocked the car and climbed in. She would get rid of the undergarments at a gas station or something.

She looked down at her chest and saw her nipples poking through the shirt. She so needed to walk in her house with her arms crossed.

She lowered the visor, slid the cover back to reveal the mirror, and looked at her face. It was exotically pale. She looked like a stunning ghost. She was sure that she could win a couple of beauty pageants with this look. She could definitely score a couple of bidders at the auction.

She lazily wondered when the effect would fade.

But everything was fine. Everything was going to be fine. It would be done tonight. Bonnie never lost, and Tyler had been losing _enough_. It felt like it was finally time for him to score, and it felt like he was going to score big. Plus, Tyler and Bonnie were working _together_. As much as their partnership annoyed her, they had gotten a couple of things done through it. She couldn't deny that.

Klaus was going to die, and as much as she wished that things could've been different, that things had never reached this point, after what she'd done with him today…..it was better if he died. She couldn't have him just walking around, ready to spill any time he chose, and, despite what he'd promised, she was very aware that he would spill if he was moved to do so.

And she wasn't prepared to deal with the consequences of what had transpired between her and Klaus, the things she'd said about him and them, and _especially _what she hadn't said when he'd brought up his murderous activities to get her off.

She wasn't ready to exist as the girl with the golden heart that's just a little bit black, and if Klaus lived past today he would absolutely force her to exist as such.

She did want an encore of what had transpired between them, but she needed the secret to disappear more.

She didn't feel guilty about how she had come the third time, or him bringing up Tyler, or any of it, because she was sure that Klaus was going to die. Bonnie and Tyler were determined. He was going to die, and her secret was going to die with him. Thus, the slate was going to be wiped clean, like it had never happened, like she had never heard him speak those words and came harder than she ever had before. No one was going to know except her.

She relaxed her shoulders and smiled at her satiated reflection.

Everything was fine.

* * *

**A/N: Are you guys okay after all of that? :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: I hope I didn't do too bad a job at editing this. I'm so sleepy! But I wanted to update tonight, so enjoy!**

****leni18** Klaus was being honest with his feelings, but there's also the manipulative side to everything he's saying, because he likes to see her do the opposite of what she says, i.e. wanting Tyler to win yet coming to see him.**

****Blessing 1.0** Congrats on the account! You've been a "Guest" forever, lol.**

* * *

**Part 17: A Losing Battle?**

To Bonnie's surprise, Tyler came to her house in the late afternoon.

"I thought you'd want to spend the time before the fight with the pack," she said as she walked down the stairs to greet him. She glanced at her dad as they walked past each other.

"I will. I just wanted to come see you first," he said fondly. His smile froze a little when Rudy sent him a disapproving look over his shoulder.

"We can talk outside," Bonnie said, and she touched his wrist as she continued to the door.

Tyler watched Rudy go to the kitchen, and then he followed Bonnie.

"I think your dad still has beef with me from the other day," he said quietly as he closed the door behind him.

"No," Bonnie sighed as she sat on the edge of her corner of the swing bed. She didn't feel like taking off her sandals. Her feet were already numbing in the cold. "He has beef because you didn't go running to him when you found out how dangerous this cure thing was for me. He pretty much thinks you've been cheering for me to get myself killed. I argued otherwise."

"He's freaking out. I get it," Tyler said as he sat close to her. "He's gonna have even bigger beef after I convince him to let you go for it."

Bonnie looked at him. "I'm not sure how much you're gonna want me to go for it once you hear what I learned from April. Silas told her that I'm the key to His release."

The _how _of it quickly presented itself in Tyler's mind, and his mouth dried up. "He plans to kill you so He can be free."

In his opinion, Bonnie couldn't simply die like a normal person. Her death needed to impact the world. It was part of why he had decided to support her in finding the cure: it was hard for him to imagine her just...dying, and so he had determined that a way could be found to save her.

But releasing an immortal witch: that would definitely impact the world.

"That's what I'm thinking. He didn't tell April how exactly I'm the key, but it doesn't take a genius to figure it out. He also told her that Qetsiyah is my ancestor, so the whole spilling blood thing makes complete sense."

"And who's supposed to do it while He's in the ground, April?" he asked, his tone wrapped in disdain.

"Or Shane, Silas' biggest fan. I was right, Ty. Silas told April that He was going to make my interest align with His. I think He had Shane call Klaus so that your pack could serve as the third duodecad and that way I would be invested in His rising: He would promise me that He'd bring you back, just like He's promised to resurrect Pastor Young."

"Oh my God. Hayley. She told me that the witch she was working with was a He, but I thought she was bullshitting, that there wasn't a witch period. Hayley was working with Silas," he said numbly. "And she planned to sacrifice me and the pack for Him."

"Well, now we know why she was talking to Shane at the pageant."

Tyler still found it hard to believe. When had it start? Had Hayley been planning his death from the moment that she had met him?

As if she could read his mind, Bonnie asked, "How did you guys meet?"

"She liked to, um, shift and stroll in the Appalachians. She heard me screaming during one of the transformations, and that's how she found me. But who knows, maybe that was the first time she'd ever even visited the mountain. Maybe _Silas_ told her about me."

Bonnie looked at the floor, and Tyler took her hand. "How are you dealing with this?" he asked softly.

"Oh, um," she frowned at the floor. "Well," she sighed, and she looked at the house across the street. "I wanted to find the cure because I wanted it for my mom, and I was told no. Now it's _necessary _for me to find the cure, because I'm sure Silas has a bunch of threats lined up if I say no, chief of them probably being killing you since he thinks you're distracting me, and everybody's gonna be on board with me finding the cure now so that we can avoid bloodshed, and Silas will get what he wants while me getting what _I_ want will just be….incidental. I'm going to die for Silas' purpose when I could've died for my own. So I'm not okay at all."

When she had started her answer, she had been sarcastic and resentful. Now, at the end of her answer, she was mad.

"We can fight him off while preventing as much bloodshed as possible. He's still in the ground; there's only so much He can do. He's relying on minions."

"We can do that."

"But that doesn't get you what you want," Tyler said.

"What I want doesn't matter, Ty. It never did. It stopped mattering as soon as Kol told us that the cure is buried with Silas. It's just that for once I wasn't the first person to let go of my own interest. But you're right, fighting Silas off is the best option. He promised chaos and destruction a long time ago, and after He's done with me He'll probably go after my mom and Lucy to make them pay for what Qetsiyah did. My mom becoming a witch again might be useless to begin with. I just….I just can't start thinking about spells to fight Silas with yet. But I need to start soon."

"Your mom and cousin are inside, right?"

"Yeah, hiding upstairs."

Tyler got up and headed for the house, and Bonnie quickly got up to stop him. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"I told you last night that I was going to talk to them."

"You have a million things to think about today-"

"And this is one of them. Look, I'm not putting this off."

He tried to take a step, but she tightened her hold on him. "What are you even going to say? Getting the cure means I die, so how are you going to sell it?"

"By reminding them that they love you."

"Just forget it," Bonnie plead.

Tyler turned to face her fully, and he put a hand on her cheek. "I know that's what you're used to? But no. I'm gonna do this."

He walked inside and Bonnie felt her blood ripple in nervous response to how much of a losing battle this was.

Tyler stopped at the entrance of the kitchen, where Rudy was peering into the blender to examine the peanut butter and banana smoothie that he was working on.

"Mr. Hopkins. Can I talk to you in the living room for a minute? It's important. It's about Bonnie."

Rudy blinked and put the cover back on the blender.

Tyler looked behind him at Bonnie. "Can you get your mom and cousin?"

Bonnie went without a word. This was so bad.

Rudy came out of the kitchen and looked at Bonnie's back as it retreated up the stairs. She had spilled to Tyler about Abby and Lucy being here. He tightened his lips and looked disapprovingly at the Hybrid.

Tyler simply held his hand out toward the couch like he was a doorman.

Bonnie's stomach was tied up in tight knots as she led the two women in her family down the stairs. Abby had of course asked what Tyler wanted to talk about, but Bonnie had held her tongue. Shit was going to blow up anyway. Tyler didn't seem to get how vehemently against the cure her parents were.

Tyler nodded to Lucy and then to Abby, who was looking at him like he was a newly discovered specimen who just might be dangerous. Lucy sat on the couch with Rudy while Abby took one of the chairs by herself, and Bonnie sat on the arm of the plush chair that faced Abby. Her position allowed her to see everyone's face.

Tyler walked to the heart of the living room and stood in front of the tv. "I'm Tyler," he said to Abby and lucy.

Bonnie closed her eyes. She was so nervous that she needed to go to the bathroom.

Abby knew that she was not going to like whatever that was going to come out of Tyler's mouth. She looked at Bonnie, and then gave Tyler her complete attention.

"So, I don't know how much Bonnie has told you about everything. Did you tell them about…..?"

"Just that Qetsiyah's our ancestor," Bonnie said, having opened her eyes. She lowered them when Tyler began. This was so bad.

"Great," Tyler said. "So, I know you all know about...the prediction of Bonnie's death. And I know that you know about Silas." He steeled himself and continued, "Bonnie found out today that she's the key to Silas' release."

Three pairs of eyes looked at Bonnie. "How do you know this?" Rudy asked her.

Bonnie looked at him and answered, "I put April under a sleeping spell. I asked her about their last conversation."

"We think that this is how she's going to die," Tyler took up, stealing everyone's attention. "She says that it makes sense that Silas would want to spill her blood to break the spell, since she shares the same blood as Qetsiyah. Now the obvious choice, the sane choice, the _easy_ choice is for us to pull back, leave Silas in the ground, get rid of His minions, and just do everything we can to make sure that He doesn't get out. I want us to make the opposite choice and go for the cure and give Bonnie what she wants."

"Death?" Abby asked incredulously.

"The _cure_," Tyler corrected. "For _you_."

"Yeah, we're done here," Rudy said as he stood. He gave Tyler a hard look and started to leave.

"Mr. Hopkins, when you tell Bonnie goodnight tonight, can you also tell her why it's so easy for you to not be there for her?"

Bonnie's mouth dropped, and Lucy's eyebrows shot way up.

"_Excuse me_?" Rudy begged as he rounded his steps to head for Tyler.

Abby stood and said to Tyler, "You have no right to be in this conversation."

"I don't mean any disrespect, but this was never going to be a pretty conversation, and I'm ready to say whatever I need to say, however ugly I need to say it, to get you to understand how important it is that you change your mind," Tyler told her.

Rudy stepped closer to him and said, "I think you need to say whatever it is you came to say to Bonnie and leave. Better yet just leave, because by my judgment you don't seem to be doing anything except filling her head with-"

"Hope?"

"_Stupidity_."

"Oh no, Mr. Hopkins, there's no stupidity in her head. She's completely hopeless. Look at her. Just turn around and look at her."

Lucy was the only one who looked at Bonnie. Bonnie kept her eyes trained on Tyler.

"She's _hopeless_," Tyler reiterated. "She actually agrees with you now: she shouldn't go after the cure-"

"Then we have nothing left to _discuss_," Rudy said.

"Except she's still gonna have to find a way to stop Silas, whether that means killing His minions or going all the way to Capernaum to kill Him for good, because that's what she does. That's _all_ she does: fight to protect everybody. Meanwhile, she's completely turned her back on the cure. So everyone's safe from Silas, and she's what? Your lack of support has set her back a thousand steps-"

"Lack of _support_?" Rudy asked as he took another step inside of Tyler's personal space.

"I _get_ it," Tyler held fast. "I get the fear-"

"You don't get the first thing about this," Abby disagreed hotly.

"I love her," Tyler declared, his eyes on Rudy and his words meant for Abby.

The knots in Bonnie's stomach shimmied, and she became aware of every inch of her skin.

Tyler swallowed and slid his gaze to Bonnie. She smiled through her shock, her eyebrows raising, and his body warmed in response. Looking at her only encouraged him to argue harder.

He returned his attention to Rudy and said, "I'm not a parent-"

Bonnie stood and softly said, "Ty, I think we can let it go."

"I'm not done." With Rudy and Abby, he continued, "I'm not her family, but I do love her. She's the most amazing person I've ever gotten to know. I'm not advocating for her death, and _that's_ the problem with how you're looking at this. How can an ex witch, a witch, and a guy who's been around witches for years and years not know how to save someone? How can you have _no _knowledge at all? Why are you so comfortable letting her think that _death_ is her only option? Why aren't you trying to save her? Telling her no is not saving her. She's gone to hell and back for me, and she's trying to do it for you," he said to Abby.

"And she does it for everyone, _easy_. But guess how often people do it for her. Guess. Look at her and guess. I want to show her that she can get back exactly what she gives everyone else. I want to show her that she's worth it, that it doesn't just happen for everyone else; things can work out for her, too. You guys have no idea how much it took for her to even take the step to try to get this cure for herself instead of for someone else. And right now everything, including all of you, is telling her that she made a mistake, she hoped too soon, it's not her time to want, she needs to wait a little more. If you don't do this for her, if you keep thinking of her as a dead girl rather than someone you can save, how the heck are you gonna make up it up to her after? Do you really think you're gonna be able to?"

"You're talking," Rudy began slowly, "Like we have a solution. That is _my_ child-"

"You're talking like we can't think of one," Tyler countered. "Just one, I mean can we at least think of _one_? As a matter of fact, I'll take care of it: she can become a vampire."

Rudy, Abby, and Lucy looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Okay, so no one is for that, great, so let's come up with a second idea. My _point_ is that everyone in this room knows that death isn't the end. People come back. Can we please save Bonnie?"

Lucy ran a hand over her face and silence stretched heavily in the wake of Tyler's question. Finally, Abby left and went up the stairs. Rudy, Tyler, and Bonnie watched her leave.

Rudy turned his attention to Tyler, his expression the softest it's been since the conversation had started, and then he made his way back to the kitchen.

Lucy didn't know what to do with herself. She couldn't go upstairs because she and Abby shared a room, and Abby most likely wanted to be alone with her thoughts, and she couldn't stay in the living room, because Bonnie and Tyler probably wanted to talk in private, and going outside was ridiculous.

Thankfully for her, Bonnie made her way to Tyler, her steps slow at first, and she took him outside.

Bonnie closed the door and heard the blender turn on in the kitchen. She walked to the edge of the porch

"Well, that went about as well as I could've hoped for," Tyler said when he came to stand next to her. "It didn't end with them shutting me down. I think walking away is good. It means they're thinking. So we just need to give them a day to wrap their minds around it, and then they should be getting back to me," he said, nodding and looking back at the house.

"You're crazy. You're nuts," she said, raising her shoulders and smiling in awe. "What if they don't get back to you?"

"Then either I'll talk to them again, or we'll save you by ourselves."

"Whatever happens...that was the most amazing thing I've ever seen. And the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me."

Tyler's body warmed again, and he felt the sweet familiar feeling of having conquered something for her, even though the conversation had ended at a quasi standstill. He walked closer to her and pulled her to him with one arm. "I would do it again. Hell, I might have to."

Bonnie felt like her stomach was suspended. She tried to speak and found that she couldn't for a moment. "I think my dad almost hit you. I've never seen him hit anyone, but I feel like that was gonna be it." Her ears were hot. Had she spoken or had she only said the words in her mind?

"Oh, he was definitely gonna deck me," he replied as he stared down at her beautiful eyes. He gave in to the pull that she had on him and kissed her. It felt like he was giving her the last breath that he would ever take.

The sensation of floating in midair spread from Bonnie's stomach to her whole body.

* * *

When Bonnie entered the house, she couldn't help but lean her back against the door after she locked it. The kiss had been incredible; his arms had felt incredible; his presence was incredible. And he was in love with her. Right? It was completely possible that he only had love _for _her, as a friend. Still, she felt great, like her feet weren't really touching the ground.

Thankfully, Lucy did not look at her.

She folded her lips and attempted to walk like a normal person whose everything wasn't yearning for more time in Tyler's arms, kissing Tyler's mouth, and breathing Tyler's scent. She paused by the kitchen and considered going in to speak to her father, but she thought better of it and went upstairs. She wanted to go to her room to think about that last minute with Tyler, but she looked down the hall and decided to go check on her mother.

She knocked on the open door when she arrived.

Abby looked at her from her seat at the foot of the bed and then she returned her gaze to the floor.

"You okay?" Bonnie asked.

Abby remained silent.

Bonnie walked into the room and stood close to her. She looked like she was deep in her head. Bonnie crossed her arms and said, "Mom."

Abby blinked and swallowed. "I can't….I can't do this," she said quietly. "I cannot...tell you...to go. I can't just tell you to go."

Bonnie lowered her eyes. "You don't have to. He was trying to make a point, but that doesn't mean….you don't have to do something that makes you uncomfortable."

The corners of Abby's vision became blurry. "He was fighting for you. That's what he was doing. He was fighting for you. And I...cannot do that. That's not my place. Your dad can decide on this. He can make the decision, but I…" She swallowed.

Bonnie lowered onto her knees and said, "I know you care about me."

Abby's smile was strained, and she shook her head, her eyes still on the floor. "I have not done a thing for you, Bonnie. Not a thing. And that was my choice, my….my choice." She looked at the beautiful young woman next to her and said, "This morning, Rudy told me that the only thing I contributed to your life was magic. He's so mad about the cure. So he told me to stay long enough to stop you from doing this magic-related thing, and then he wants me to leave. And he's right, and he's-"

"Whether or not you leave is _my_ decision," Bonnie insisted.

"But he's right about my lack of contribution. And it's not like I didn't know that before. Every time you speak, every time you disagree or talk about an idea, every time you react, I think: I had nothing to do with this. This incredibly….unique girl-"

"Well, I wouldn't say nothing," Bonnie disagreed with a tiny smile.

"Yeah, that's great: negative contribution, what every parent aspires to. You lived your life and shaped yourself around the thought that I was dead. That's something, alright. I put you on this earth, and I had nothing to do with who you grew into. I regret that fact every day, Bonnie. I _thought_ about it every day, for _years_, and still I couldn't move my feet to come back to Mystic Falls. And this is why, here it is, I'm asked to be there for you, to support you, for the first time in fifteen years, and it's for something that could end with you dead. _Dead_. Welcome home. I've missed this fucking place. Excuse my language."

"Why didn't you take me with you?" Bonnie asked. "Why didn't you come back, just for one second, and take me and dad, or _call_ us to come meet you?"

Abby shook her head. "I was on my way back. I was on autopilot: Mikael was entombed, and I was weak, and I'd just realized that my powers were severely depleted, but I was the ultimate warrior witch. I didn't need to slow down. I'd just sacrificed a teenager for the desiccation spell. I was used to spilling my own blood to bless a potion or a spell, but this….I casted the spell that would take me back home, but it didn't work. I didn't have enough power. And as I stared at my Grimoire, the blood on my nose dropping onto the page, the scariest thought came to me: what if I had been pregnant? That spell was big enough to deplete my power, to hurt my body, what would it have done to a baby? What if I had been pregnant with you right then instead of three years earlier? I've been through some things, Bonnie. I had some…demons."

She stroke her daughter's cheek and smiled. "You were my determination. I wrecked my body being a warrior witch, thrown here, bitten there, stress, the difficult spells. And your dad had some fertility issues of his own, according to what the doctors had told him. It was hard. But we fought for you, and you broke through."

Bonnie smiled, her eyes as shiny as Abby's.

"I can't lose you now," Abby confessed. "Not when I just met you, not when I have so much to make up for. And I just….I'm frozen, because I keep thinking about how much of a...deserved punishment it would be if I lost you for good just when I was ready to be there for you."

Bonnie touched the hand on her cheek, and after she judged that it was okay, Abby gave her a hard kiss on the forehead. She pulled her into the first hug she's given her in fifteen years, and her tears spilled.

* * *

Bonnie was back in her room when she heard her father come up the stairs and go to his. She got up and went to see him.

"Hey," she said at the door.

Rudy unplugged his phone from the charger "Hey," he responded.

"I just want to tell you, um….don't tell mom to stay away from me. Be mad at her all you want, I get that. But don't tell her to stay away. For years, you got to decide what I could and couldn't know about her, and your decision was that I could know nothing. Absolutely nothing. You and grams decided that. I get to decide now. And I want to see where this thing between me and her goes."

She left the room without giving him a chance to respond.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I'm sorry that TVD is back you guys :(. Of course, I am not watching. But I did see a nice gifset of Tyler working out :)**

**Enjoy!**

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**Part 18: Howl**

After leaving Bonnie's house, Tyler went back to Klaus' mansion where he spent the remaining hours with the pack. They performed a second strengthening ritual, because Adrian had missed out on the first one.

Night came and made itself comfortable, and they packed themselves into Tyler's car and the one that Klaus had given them, and they drove to his house.

Now, Tyler walked into the house while the others went around to the backyard that stretched into the woods.

"Finally returned," Klaus commented when he came into view.

"You're seal's going down in about an hour."

"And then?"

"Exactly what you're thinking. And I can't wait."

"With your _pack_," he mocked.

"I didn't force it, either. That's why my arms are healed and your face is….not."

"Tyler. You can run. I'll give you a head start. When the seal comes down, be as far away from this town as possible. And I _might _let you create a new life. You've already cemented a death sentence for your _pack _when you turned them against me. But as my first Hybrid, I'm considering going easier on you."

"Don't bother. You're dying tonight."

"And what will you be without me? Have you thought of that? Hybrid. Why, there are only…..fifteen of us in the entire world. Without me, the number is down to fourteen, and you won't be able to produce any more without my blood, which means you'll be part of an _endangered_ species. The werewolves are scarce, but they're not endangered. There's enough of them that I could turn so that _we _would outnumber them. That's my plan-"

"Bullshit," Tyler retorted. "You would never create so many Hybrids that you stopped being special, that any one of them could rise up against you and split the group. You only want as many as you can control."

"Well…present circumstances say I've already created one too many, wouldn't you say, _Alpha_?" he gritted. "Enlighten me as to how that happened."

"I grew into it," Tyler replied with a small shrug. "You pulled it out of me."

"You killed Hayley."

"She was a traitor. You've killed for less."

"Still. Even if you get rid of me, it seems you've got another problem on your hands: the good samaritan who tipped me off."

"It's under control."

"Mmm," he replied as he stared murder into the other Hybrid. "You haven't answered my question. What will you be without me?"

"_Free_."

"_Nothing_. The world will remember me: the Original, the first Hybrid, the one who broke his curse, a Mikaelson, first-made vampire. They will remember me by _name_. Whether you win or lose, they won't even remember you as an _experiment_. And so nothing that you do tonight….nothing you've been through….none of your _fight_….will matter. Without me around, it has no meaning. You'll tell the story, and it just won't sound as convincing."

Tyler turned and headed to the backyard. The breath that he's been holding since he'd broken up with Caroline the previous night constricted further in his chest.

When he broke out into the night again, he came up next to Alex. The back porch light had stayed on from the previous night.

"He's right, you know," Alex said. It had been assumed that none of them were going to eavesdrop, but he'd tuned in. "Not about the other crap, but we will be an endangered species without him around to make more. And most of us are planning to finally go home after this. You, Kim, and Adrian are the only ones who live in Virginia. We're gonna be split _and _rare."

"He's still dying," Tyler answered, his jaw tight.

"I'm just saying."

Tyler turned his attention from Alex when he heard two newcomers round the house.

Bonnie's bag of tools was draped across her body, and Lucy carried the painting.

"Hi," Bonnie greeted with a smile when she was close enough to him.

"Hey," he greeted, a small smile on his face. "Hi," he said to Lucy. He took Bonnie's hand and said, "I think it's time you meet everybody. Well, formally." He called for the group's attention and said, "Everyone, this is Bonnie. She's the one who's been helping us, and I know you all remember her from….that night. Bonnie, this is Alex, Levi, Jay, Mia, Pam, Fisch with a S-C-H, Fish with a S-H, both named Fis(c)her, no relation. That's Cohen, Lena, and you already know Kim and Adrian."

"I do. It's nice to meet the rest of you," Bonnie smiled. She remembered Cohen and Lena as the two Hybrids that she'd almost melted together. Judging from the fact that they were the only two not smiling at her, they remembered, too. "This is my cousin, Lucy. She's gonna be helping me with the spells."

Lucy raised her hand and spread her fingers in greeting. "Nice to meet you all."

"And you're sure you can do this?"

Lena. Bonnie gave her a plastic smile. "I'm positive."

"Because if you so happen to fail, that's our asses."

Tyler did a complete one-eighty from Bonnie to look at Lena. It put Bonnie mostly behind him, mostly hidden from Lena's view. The Beta recognized the move. Apparently, Bonnie wasn't just anybody to Tyler. She was on slippery ground.

"If you have any doubts, you are free to leave," Bonnie said. "You can work that out with Tyler."

"I'm just asking a question," Lena said, attitude still too high.

"And I'm just giving you a piece of advice. We're gonna get started," she said to Tyler, touching his elbow. "An hour from now, you'll be facing a weaker Klaus. Is Caroline coming?"

"I don't know," he said, staring Lena down. Caroline's presence tonight hadn't been a concern of his all day. It would make an odd sort of sense if she managed to miss this. "I didn't go back to her house after we came back," he said as he turned to Bonnie.

Lena rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, and Kim watched her. She looked at Cohen, and saw that _he _was watching _her_. And he looked just as pissed as Lena. Tyler felt the tension.

Bonnie nodded. She had sent Caroline a text about where she would be performing the spells. But if she happened to not show up tonight, it would save her from explaining Lucy's presence.

"I want to thank you," Tyler said to her. "Both of you," he acknowledged Lucy, "But especially you," he said to Bonnie. "From all of us."

Still, Kim voiced her own thank you.

Bonnie smiled. "You're welcome," she said to the group, minus the two with the stoic regard. She saved the special _you're welcome _look in her eyes for Tyler. "You guys are ready for this," she said, her attention on the group again.

She took a step back and turned with Lucy to head deeper into the yard, closer to the woods. Then she thought better of it and retraced her steps. She walked up to Tyler, who had turned to the pack as soon as she'd turned, and grabbed his elbow to make him face her.

Her mind blanked on something to say, so she stretched her body up while pulling his head down, and she kissed him.

Tyler placed his hands on her hips, and he captured her upper lip. Bonnie moved her hand from the back of his head down to his collarbone, and she released his lips.

"Thanks," he said softly as the Hybrids who weren't Kim or Adrian wondered what had happened to his epic love for Caroline. He'd developed a reputation as the lovesick Hybrid, always fighting to be better for his girl. Some of them had found it admirable, romantic even, others had thought that he should just give up on the relationship, because there was no _better_ as Klaus' Hybrid.

"Good luck," Bonnie wished softly. She lifted her hand from his collarbone and stroke his cheek with the back of her knuckles. Now she was ready to walk away. The last time he had faced Klaus, he had suffered horrible tears on his arms. He had a team tonight, but he could still suffer worse. She couldn't have left without touching him.

Tyler watched her walk away, and Klaus' words floated to the background as he realized that he was in love with her. It felt like the moment when the eyes opened after a comfortable sleep, slow, not a moment too soon, not a moment too-late. He'd confessed the feelings earlier when he'd been one second away from getting clocked by her father. His heart had sent the words up before his brain had completely understood. He'd spoken from his heart and now his brain settled in the knowledge. The girl who always quietly but powerfully stood apart from everyone and everything else, he was in love with Bonnie, and he wanted to give her his heart.

Fischer slapped his thigh as a light bulb sparked on. "_That's _why you smell so weird."

Lena uncrossed her arms and walked away from the group.

"Lena," Tyler called as he turned around.

She stopped and slowly faced him.

"Do you have a problem?"

"Please tell me Fisch is wrong. _Tell me _she isn't why you smell so strange. You and the vampire was whatever, but that was your business, and you weren't my Alpha then. If you wanted all of that death and decay, fine, but a _witch_?"

Tyler waited for her to get whatever it was out.

"I know you know about the rivalry between werewolves and vampires, even the normal people know it, but witches aren't that much better. Caroline….she's sweet and harmless, but _her_?" she asked, jabbing a finger at Bonnie's retreating back, "She's already tried to kill us."

"You attacked her," Tyler said calmly.

"Are you fucking kidding? She _killed _Dylan-"

"_Kim_, Adrian, and Dylan attacked her. She was minding her own business. They attacked, she retaliated, and everyone got involved, including me."

"But now you're into her, so what she did is fine."

"Lena, let it go," Kim said. "It was….a bad night. She had no reason not to attack us, same as I had no reason to give a damn about her when I kidnapped _her friend_. No one cared about anyone, but it's….fine now."

"No, it's _not_."

"She's a witch," Cohen spoke up. "Always in bed with vampires, always doing _something _that gives them the upper hand over us. You guys are not gonna get along. There _is _a rivalry there, and it's about power. No one says it, but witches always think they're above us, more powerful. You saw it that night."

"Sooner or later, you're gonna get tangled in her mess, because _witches _are always involved in some mess. Except of course when the vampires were going around wiping us out. And as our Alpha-"

"So do you want to follow Dai and Lily out of town?" Tyler cut her off. He'd heard enough. "Bonnie didn't say anything about her spells hinging on the two of you. If you need to go, go. I don't need you. The rest of us don't need you. _You _are not gonna be what ruins _months _of preparation."

"I'm not going to ruin anything," Lena said. "I'm just letting you know that I'm not going to fight anyone else's battles, least of all a witch's. She's not gonna be my Alpha."

"Don't lose yourselves too deep in the wolf tonight." He was speaking to Lena and Cohen, and everyone heard the threat for what it was. If, in the seductive abandonment, they ended up attacking Bonnie, he would make sure that they always remembered how badly they failed.

* * *

When there was enough distance between the Bennetts and the pack, Lucy commented, "So. That's Tyler."

"Yeah," Bonnie answered casually. She took control of the conversation so that Lucy didn't explore the topic. "I think we can walk a little bit further. That way we can still see what's happening, but we won't be in the line of fire."

"Have you channeled another witch before?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, once. He lied to me the whole time."

"Oh. Sorry. But I promise it feels good. Especially since we're bonded."

"Is that what that...thing is called? The thing where I can feel you? A bond?"

"Yeah. My mom told me when I was younger that our family cribbed it from the werewolves. It's not something that happens naturally. I mean it happens naturally _now _because the spell renews itself with every Bennett birth, but it's not natural among witches."

"Why did we crib it?"

"Well, werewolves bond, to their pack, to their mate, and of course to their family. They can sense each other, especially Alphas. Three sibling ancestors from my branch of the family did the spell decades and decades ago. They first created it for the mortals who would come to them for help in locating where their family was. Slavery was happening here, families getting torn apart, auctioned off, sold off, or traded, and people wanted to know where their wife or kids or brother had ended up. Just to know, you know? Their names were Jude, Ellis, and Lavinia, and they used their knowledge of werewolves to cast a spell on these people so that they would instinctually recognize their family when they saw them, no matter how much time had passed. They eventually casted the spell on our family. We got separated, too, and of course it was a protective measure in general."

"Sounds like a huge spell," Bonnie said.

Lucy smiled. "It was. I mean, the werewolves' bond is more emotional than physical. The spell they created is purely physical."

Bonnie thought more about the bond from the werewolf perspective. She wondered if Tyler knew about it. She wondered if, now that he was an Alpha Hybrid, he would be able to use it. Or maybe he had never lost it. She also wondered if the bond was why Tyler had heard her when she'd screamed his name in the auditorium. He'd said that he'd heard her in his head, not his ears. Was that the bond? Was she bonded to Tyler? Was that why she'd felt it when he'd been in trouble last night?

But she wasn't a werewolf.

But did she need to be? She had a manufactured version of the bond, so maybe it had connected to Tyler's natural one.

She wanted to ask Lucy how the bond formed between werewolves, but she did not want to invite her cousin's questions or quiet speculations. Not to mention the fact that Tyler was hearing distance away. She didn't want him to accidentally hear her line of questioning, because why ever would she be interested in werewolf bonds?

She was interested because she liked the concept. It felt good to be able to feel Lucy.

She was interested because the thought of being emotionally bonded to Tyler was one she liked. He was important to her.

"This is far enough, right?" Lucy asked.

Bonnie looked back at the huddled group. "Yeah, it's good."

Lucy set the painting down while Bonnie took off her bag and opened it to get the salt. Lucy had decided that they should cast a protective circle, just in case. Bonnie opened the container and dropped the salt in a circle around them, one that was wide enough to allow them wiggle room.

Lucy conjured lights that would enable them to see what they were reading. "_Da nobis, ut opus sit amet Naturam. Da nobis, ut opus sit amet Naturam. Da nobis, ut opus sit amet Naturam_."

Shimmering crystals of jagged white light materialized. When Bonnie closed the circle, the lights illuminated the salt grains slowly lifting into the air to create a round curtain of protection.

Bonnie closed the salt container and watched. The last time she'd been in a protective circle, well…it hadn't done a great job of protecting her and her mother. But Lucy had told her that salt was the best way to cast a circle. Maybe Esther Mikaelson hadn't known that.

Lucy opened her eyes and smiled at her handy work. She has never stopped being in awe of her ability to manipulate natural energy. Bonnie returned the salt to the bag and pulled out her Grimoire, along with the knife that was copper-red with Klaus' blood.

Bonnie sat down and crossed her legs. Lucy sat across from her. Bonnie ceremoniously placed the Grimoire in front of her and laid the knife on top of it.

"Ready?" Lucy asked.

Bonnie smiled. She always was. "Ready."

They reached over the Grimoire and held hands. With eyes closed, they ventured outside of themselves and channeled each other. Bonnie's breath deepened when she felt Lucy touch her power. It almost distracted her from doing her part, but she reigned in her focus and dove into Lucy's power, and the older woman's hands tightened on hers before they quickly relaxed, and she heard Lucy chuckle.

The lights and salt started to bob around them.

"Now," Bonnie breathed, and the lights and salt were shocked into immobility when the witches' powers abruptly switched direction and dovetailed into the earth. Lucy tightened her hold on Bonnie as the element crawled up her body. She inhaled and squeezed her lips and tried not to push it back out. To help, she pulled on Bonnie's power.

Bonnie was having an easier time, the element easily sliding up her body. She straightened her back suddenly when she felt Lucy pull just a little too much on her power. "It's okay," she soothed. "You're fine. It's fine."

"It's _hard_. I feel like-it's gonna pull me down."

Bonnie didn't know what that felt like, but she reversed the channel and sent her power to Lucy while she pulled solely from the earth. This allowed Lucy to stop channeling her and focus on using her own power to manage the hardest element.

"Don't focus on holding it in," Bonnie counseled, based on what Abby had told her when she'd needed it to stop Jeremy's heart. "It'll consume you, and you'll end up working that much harder, and your powers will be depleted. It's an exchange. It's in you, now send it out, use it on something, make something happen."

Lucy held fast to Bonnie's hands and reached for the sky, wanting to channel her power as far away from the ground as possible. She formed the clouds, fattened them up, and created a lightning show over the Lockwood property. It was enough to take the edge off, and she relaxed her vice grip on Bonnie's hands. Air was her best element. It was why she had such an easy time teleporting from place to place.

The very first time that Bonnie had channeled earth, she had sent the power out by doing the spell on Jeremy. Now she found that she didn't have to do anything. Her body was handling it just fine.

"I'm okay," Lucy said. She never channeled earth without one or more other element involved. She opened her eyes and looked at Bonnie's serene composure. The younger witch even had a little smile on her lips.

"That was the lesson mom learned after she faced Mikael" Bonnie said, eyes still closed. "She held the power in, which made her pull more from her own power. The earth never mixed in with her energy. It _pulled _from her instead, so her powers were being used twice over. Because of that, she lost her powers for a long time. " She opened her eyes.

"What are you channeling it on?" Lucy asked.

"I'm not. I don't think I need to anymore. I feel fine. Like I have a lot more power than usual, but fine. My body's holding it. I guess all of those nosebleeds helped make me stronger, built up my endurance. Let's start."

They changed their hand-holding so that their palms rested against each other. They looked at the knife and together they floated it up. Lucy looked over at the painting, and it lifted into a standing position.

Her eyes on the knife, Bonnie began, "_Sanguine cultri, sanguis erat. Sanguine cultri, sanguis erat._" Her eyes on the painting, Lucy joined in, "_Sanguine cultri, sanguis erat. Sanguine cultri, sanguis erat_."

As lightning played overhead, the Hybrids heard a pained yell ring out of the house. Inside, Klaus' skin split along his face and arms, and the blood that flowed out spilled down the painting outside.

When the painting was striped in blood, the witches halted the spell. "Perfect," Bonnie said. She looked down at the Grimoire, and it flipped open to the Life Splitting spell.

"Are you ready?" Bonnie asked. "When I channel you again, the element is going to flow from me to you. That's going to be double."

"I'm ready," Lucy assured her.

Bonnie looked at the spell. She wasn't going to look up until it worked. Her way of reaching the painting was Lucy, who was going to have the tasks of holding her concentration enough so that she can enact her own power through the spell and reach the painting, channeling Bonnie so that their powers mixed and gave them both strength, and managing the double dose of raw earth magic that was going to be floating through her.

Every line that Bonnie said, Lucy repeated it by herself, and then they put their voices together to repeat it three more times. When Lucy had offered to help, Bonnie had distantly set her brain to figure out how she could work that into the spells. It had come to her after she had finished her homework.

Five people had been involved in the ritual that had freed Klaus from his curse: the three sacrifices, the witch, and the doppelganger. She did not count Klaus because this spell was targeting him, too, and not in the amiable way that Greta Martin's spell had.

Her spell acknowledged the breaking of the curse, and so she'd come up with the repetition as a way to further connect their magic to Klaus' blood for the purpose of isolating Elena's blood and the magic that it contained because of Greta's unification spell.

And so Bonnie began each line, and Lucy followed, and their voices united.

"_Maledictio autem fracto illo sit etiam transmutare._"

"_Sanguis converto sit duplex separata!_"

"_Sit factum fieri infectum sanguine!_"

"_Si de sanguine Elena Gilbert, duplex de Petrova, vertuntur de Klaus Mikaelson!_"

"_Sit factum fieri infectum sanguine!_"

* * *

Half an hour later, the witches were screaming the spell, still taking turns, still uniting on the last three repetitions. Cracks had formed in the coagulated blood that was on the painting.

It was then that Caroline came running around the house. A considerable gust of wind ravaged her hair as the air vibrated with magic. She squinted up at the lightning storm and came to a stop in front of Tyler's group. Some of them were completely naked. Some, like Tyler, were in their undergarments.

"You made it," Tyler said, shocked.

"I wasn't going to miss it."

Despite his indifference earlier, Tyler realized that he was happy that she'd shown up. He didn't need her here, but she had been there when this had all started. She knew the beginning of the struggle, and she knew everything that he has done to free himself of it. Because of how Klaus had used him, she has been hurt by the struggle, too, and even though they have grown apart in the last few months, he was relieved that she still understood enough to value how important this moment was to him.

Caroline turned to the house where Klaus was screaming as something that he couldn't see tore at the core of his genetic makeup. He was hurling profanities at Tyler and the other Hybrids.

She turned to Tyler and said, "There's about half an hour left before the seal disappears."

"I know."

She looked down the yard to where Bonnie and Lucy were illuminated by bright lights. "Think they'll finish in time?"

"I hope so," Tyler said as he looked at them. "Either way, we're gonna face him when he comes out. Or chase him on the off chance he runs."

"Klaus doesn't seem like the type who runs."

"He ran from his father for hundreds of years. If he believes we can kill him, he'll run."

Caroline nodded. She smiled and put her hands on Tyler's face. "You're ready for this. All of you are. I know getting here has been…hard...between the two of us, but...I do support you one hundred percent. You deserve this. And I'm cheering for you."

Tyler smiled with a nod and hugged her. He blinked when a bout of sadness took him by surprise. He was ending a huge part of his life tonight. Klaus was going to die, but he was also done with Caroline. When all of the noise stopped tonight, when Bonnie and Lucy stopped chanting, and the lightning disappeared, and the wind calmed, when all was quiet, he was going to be devoid of the two people who have had the most influence on how he's lived his life since he'd become a Hybrid. Hell, since he'd become a werewolf, really.

_Without me, it has no meaning. You'll tell the story, and it just won't sound as convincing._

Those were Klaus' words, not Caroline's, but he had a feeling that, now that he wasn't her boyfriend, she wasn't exactly going to spend her time listening to him talk about the most transformative year of his life. And _that _saddened him.

He ended the hug, and the air in his chest further constricted.

Caroline smiled and stroke his cheek. Tyler stepped away before she could think to do anything else. His judgment was astute, because her smile slipped. She _had _been planning to give him a kiss.

"Well, I guess, um, I'm gonna go wait with Bonnie."

Tyler nodded.

She raised her voice to speak to the others. "Good luck."

* * *

Forty more minutes went by before Bonnie and Lucy stopped chanting.

Caroline turned her attention from the pack to look at them.

Bonnie finally looked up from the Grimoire. "It's done."

Lucy moved her neck from side to side, and Bonnie followed her lead.

"Klaus is still screaming," Caroline said as she trained her ears inside the house.

Bonnie looked up at her, not having realized that she'd shown up. "Yeah, but the spell is done."

They all looked at the painting. It was covered in cracked blood.

"Tyler," Bonnie said quietly. "Tyler, can you hear me? Ty."

Tyler turned his attention from the house to the women's direction. He had calculated when the seal had gone down. The pain had kept Klaus inside. _Can you hear me?_ Bonnie's voice bounced against his eardrums. "I can hear you," he answered before he remembered that super hearing wasn't one of _her_ gifts.

"He can hear you," Caroline told Bonnie.

Bonnie wasn't sure how, but she knew that Tyler was listening to her before Caroline confirmed it. "It's done. Elena's blood is gone."

Just then, Klaus quieted down, and the Hybrids stepped closer to the house. "The spell is done," Tyler announced. "We're ready for this, guys," he said as they watched the house. "Just like Bonnie said. Look out for each other. He focuses on one of us, he gets jumped by the rest of us. We're _all _making it tonight."

Seconds ticked by. Stillness. Nothing.

Just when Tyler was getting half a mind to storm the house in case Klaus thought to quietly slip out the front, he was tackled to the ground, knocking two of the Hybrids down in the process.

Klaus tried to land a punch across Tyler's face, but Lena sped over and grabbed his arm. The irate sire bared the claws of his other hand and slashed her across the face. Klaus sped a couple of feet away before the others could touch him.

"So what is this?!" he yelled, stopping them in their tracks. "I thought for sure that that..._spell_ was what was meant to kill me."

"We're not talking," Tyler declared above the wind, and he mutated just enough to charge Klaus.

They didn't transition at the same time. They went according to Tyler's plan. While he attacked, Adrian and Kim waited in the wings while Levi, Pam, and Fisch transitioned, but since Lena was hurt, she took Fisch's place. Transitioning into a full werewolf, plus the boost from Tyler's power, would help her heal enough to continue fighting.

They soldiered through the pain of broken broken bones and torn ligaments until they walked on all fours. Adrian and Kim took over for Tyler, and Alex, Cohen, and Fish transitioned.

As Klaus fought Kim and Adrian, he went through his own transition little by little. None of the gashes that they tore into his flesh phased him. They just made him angrier. He snapped Kim's neck and laid her out, and then he bit Adrian. Mia came up the back and bit him.

When Adrian was freed, Tyler yelled at him to go off script and transitioned, so he did it at the same time as Jay and Fisch.

Tyler picked Kim up and sped her away from the fight so that Klaus couldn't easily get to her.

Klaus smacked Mia aside, and faced Fisch and Levi. As an Alpha, his werewolf form was bigger than the others so he was successfully fending them off and sustaining the wounds scratched into him. He ran around them and dealt his blows. He pinned Alex to the ground and opened his jowls to clamp down on his throat and tear it out, but he was talked by another werewolf, one that was his size.

Aggressive lupine growls reached Bonnie, Lucy, and Caroline as Tyler went at Klaus.

"Oh my God," Lucy murmured. She couldn't see clearly, but the growls were terrifying and for the first time she considered the possibility of the pack not making it.

The growls were murder, and Bonnie got on her feet inside of the circle. They had been confident before, but it was happening now, and the way the werewolves sounded, one or two people were going to end up dead.

Caroline backed up and bumped against the shield. Bonnie and Lucy turned away and shut their eyes when the circle flared bright white. Red and black dots swam in their vision when they opened their eyes. The werewolves were so loud and thirsty for flesh and bone that it was hard for Caroline to believe that twelve of them were actually working together. It sounded like one big melee where everyone wanted to kill each other.

"I have to get out of here," she said as one more werewolf, Mia, transitioned.

"I think one of them's down," Lucy said above the howling wind as she stood and made out a body on the ground.

"Caroline, go and make sure they're okay," Bonnie said.

"No way," Caroline objected as she turned to Bonnie. "Tyler set them there, I saw. I'm not going any closer than here, and I think I should leave."

"_What_, why?"

"Do you hear them?!" she panicked. "Hybrid or not, they are _werewolves _right now and once they're done with Klaus, where do you think they're going to turn their attention? On my nice undead vampire flesh." She turned to look at the savage fight.

"Bonnie, we have more work to do," Lucy said.

Bonnie sat back down. "Please be okay, Ty."

She and Lucy focused on the floating knife and began the second spell.

Ten minutes went by and Kim's brain fired on enough that it could send signals to her spinal cord and heal the broken neck. When she regained consciousness, she transitioned and joined the fight.

She was a ball of energetic fury, one that her side needed, because, except for the ones that came from Tyler, Klaus' double heritage was allowing him to heal from every wound, even though strength-wise he matched Tyler as an Alpha.

The fight stretched another ten minutes, unheard of for such a big pack, but Klaus wasn't going down, and Tyler's side was sustaining too many wounds. Cunning, Klaus timed it perfectly, and he grew in size to further demoralize them. Tyler was the only one who could match his growth. He and Klaus got big enough to fight on their hind legs, veritable wolfmen, and Tyler communicated to the others that they needed to tap out. If Klaus managed to corner one of them, he would kill them.

Tyler lit into Klaus, his goal to anger him enough that he lost focus on the others. It worked.

As the most healthy, Kim rounded the three most wounded and shepherded them to the edge of the yard. Whining worriedly, she walked around and pawed and nosed at them to help them heal. The others joined her, and she took care of them, too. She was only going to be able to tend to them for as long as it didn't hurt her. Healing them completely wasn't possible. They'd been wounded by an Alpha.

Caroline wanted to leave, but she felt that she had to see. Despite Bonnie and Lucy's intentions, it looked like things were going to end at a draw between Tyler and Klaus. It didn't look like either of them were ever going to stop.

The second spell kicked in after another ten minutes. Neither Alpha could tell. It was subtle, and it didn't show outwardly for yet another fifteen minutes. Tyler was getting tired, his body wounded, and it gave Klaus the upper hand. Tyler was stuck on defense while Klaus attacked.

And then Klaus started to feel sick, horribly, terribly sick. It was then that he remembered that there were others here, powerful beings. Not werewolves like him, but something else. They were working against him, helping the Alpha he sought to defeat, and he needed to stop them.

He left Tyler and charged toward the source of foreign power.

"Oh _shit_," Caroline exclaimed when she saw one of the werewolves approaching fast. She ran the hell out of the backyard and stopped around the house. She peeked into the yard. She couldn't tell the Alphas apart, but the one that was currently hell-bent toward Bonnie and Lucy couldn't be Tyler.

Klaus was getting smaller as he ran, shrinking down to four legs. Tyler sprinted after him, and when Klaus jumped to make his way into the circle, Tyler grabbed him by the tail and threw him back where he'd come from.

Bonnie and Lucy continued to chant, undisturbed, forcing Klaus' werewolf half to poison his vampire half.

Klaus righted himself and realized that he was close to the others. He attacked and tangled with Kim.

Tyler ran back and dragged Klaus away by his tail. He pinned him down with a hand around his throat and clawed into his weakened flesh.

Caroline took a stunned step back when the first of Klaus' pained whines reached her ears.

Tyler stopped a second and looked into Klaus' eyes. Klaus struggled to free himself. He struggled to get bigger, but the poison wouldn't allow him. For the first time ever, his vampire side was hindering his werewolf side. Still, wrath burned in his yellow-red-black eyes. He still felt that he could kill Tyler.

Tyler slashed him across the face and resumed staring.

Caroline closed her eyes tight and turned away. She couldn't watch the end. She ran to her car and drove home.

Tyler let his human side out, transitioned out just enough so that his brown eyes looked down at his sire. Klaus quit struggling and transitioned, too, and for the first time Tyler saw something in Klaus' eyes that he had never seen before. Klaus has looked at him with extreme anger, irritation, impatience, and condescension. But he has never looked at him like he outright hated him. He had never realized that, because what difference did it make in how Klaus treated him?

But he saw the unrepentant hate now, and he knew that it was there because Klaus had finally accepted that he was stronger than him. The bastard hated those who made him feel weak.

Tyler roared in Klaus' face and fell back into his lupine state, and he tore his sire to pieces.

* * *

Bonnie and Lucy were cut off in the middle of the spell. There was no longer enough of a body for the spell to act on.

Bonnie opened her eyes and was disoriented for a moment, because she didn't understand what had happened. She tuned in to the rest of the yard, and all was quiet, the wind gone, the sky a dull blue. Her heart leapt to her throat, and she shot to her feet. She bent down and swiped at the salt to break the circle, and she ran up the yard.

Lucy ran behind her, a tentative hand on the hem of Bonnie's sweater. As they got closer, Bonnie saw scattered animal parts. The women stopped when they spotted the huddled werewolves.

The injured wolfman tended to his pack with Kim's help. When the breathing of the badly injured three evened out, and when the others were strong enough to stand, Tyler left them and followed the strong smell of anxiety.

Lucy moved behind Bonnie as Tyler walked forward, his body a brown mass of muscles. Lucy pulled on the back of Bonnie's sweater, but Bonnie didn't move, her eyes riveted on the cruel gashes on Tyler's body.

Tyler was severely weakened because of the energy he'd just given the others. When he reached Bonnie, he fell.

"No! Tyler!" She kneeled next to him. "Ty? _Tyler_."

Tyler suffered on the ground and started to transition down.

Kim ran up on all fours and told him not to do it. She told him that it would be worse, that it might kill him. He would heal faster if he stayed a werewolf. Transition down to all fours, but _do not_ become human.

"What's going on?" Bonnie asked.

Tyler looked up at her and forced himself away from his human side. Lucy pulled Bonnie away when he started to growl. He shifted down to all fours and tried to breathe.

"A healing spell," Bonnie said as she kneeled next to him again and put his head on her lap, "We can do a healing spell."

"Bonnie, he got hurt by an Alpha," Lucy reminded her. "That's not going to help. Magic is useless."

Tyler whined sharply on her lap.

"Oh my God, please make it through this. Please make it through this. You have to-you have to enjoy this. You have to live without Klaus. You have to…_know _what that's like. Please make it through this."

She adjusted herself and laid her head against his. A spell may be useless, but who said that all magic was? He was undead, but he was also a werewolf right now. He was an Alpha, and he could breathe, not like her, but he could breathe. Surely that counted for something? He was a werewolf right now, the most alive that he could be. She channeled him and trembled when it worked. She didn't care if it didn't aid in healing him. She connected, and she channeled.

Tyler wiggled under her hands, and she stopped, worried that she had hurt him. He moved his head, searching for the magic. He started to get up in his search for her hands, and Bonnie finally understood what he wanted and resumed channeling him so that he didn't exert the energy.

The other werewolves gathered in a circle around Bonnie, Lucy, Tyler and Kim. They lifted their snouts to the sky, and they howled.


	19. Chapter 19

**Part 19: How the Game is Played**

_Twenty minutes before Klaus' seal broke..._

April finally arrived home.

One of the high school volunteers had peeked into the bathroom despite the _Out of Service _announcement and discovered her. The volunteer had not been able to shake her awake, so, worried that the amiable pageant queen had suffered a concussion, they had run to the nearest adult, and the ambulance had been called.

They had taken her vitals but been unable to determine what was wrong with her. She had finally woken up at 7:27 in the evening, after which she had been submitted to a CT scan.

One of the neighbors whom she had listed as her emergency contact on the pageant application had been contacted, and it was this red-haired woman with more than a touch of grey at her temples whom she was trying to get rid of now.

"I just think you should sit down, April."

"Ms. Killips, I'm fine, swear I'm fine. I just need you to go."

"I'm afraid to leave you alone. You were out for more than five hours. I mean has that happened before?"

"_No_."

"So what if it happens again, and there's no one here to find you? At least come stay at the house for a couple of hours, play around with Jaxson."

"I don't want to play with Jaxson. I don't want to be around anybody! Look, I know what happened, and I don't want to talk about it. I just want to be alone! You can check on me first thing tomorrow, if you want, but I just _really _need you to leave. _Please_."

Ellie Killips was hesitant to leave, and a small part of her wondered why the Department of Children and Families hadn't been contacted. She didn't mind watching over April. Pastor Young had been a great man of Faith. But she had a six-year-old boy who required a lot of work. She could deal with _some _teenage angst from April, but faintings that went on for hours and that came with stinky attitude was not something that she was ready to deal with.

She gave April her space and left the house and hoped that the girl would be alright and conscious when she came to check on her the next morning.

April turned the locks in place and stomped to her room. She slammed the door closed, the first outburst of the emotions that she's been holding in since she'd woken up in the hospital.

"Silas?! Silas! Please appear, I need you! I need you! These people, they're _horrible_! They're horrible! They tricked me! THEY TRICKED ME! Caroline pretended like she was my-like she wanted to talk to me, and it was all a lie, and she used me! Bonnie did something to me! Where are you?! She casted a spell on me, and she knocked me the _fuck _out for eight hours! Eight hours, and I don't remember _shit_! I HATE THEM! I hate them; I hate them; they're soulless; I hate them!"

She gulped air into her lungs and screamed.

* * *

**A/N: A short chapter! Because we needed to check back in with April, and her emotions didn't fit in with the flow of the previous chapter or the flow of the next one.**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Cheers to the weekend! I'm updating later than usual, but that's only because the muse was on fire, and I was cranking out/fine-tuning future chapters.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Part 20: Here Lies Klaus**

"Come on," Bonnie begged Tyler, panic making her skin hot. His breathing was becoming more and more shallow as the seconds ticked by. She rubbed her ears on her shoulders as she channeled him. The werewolves' howls were getting sharper and louder, and it was hell on her and Lucy's eardrums.

Kim went outside of the circle and shifted back into a human. Her body was killing her, but she tried to ignore it.

"I can't take this!" Lucy yelled over the pack, her index fingers pressing against her ears.

"They're sad," Kim explained, her mouth red with Klaus' blood. She stepped inside of the circle. "They're celebrating, but it's sad because Tyler can't join in, and you guys are worrying about him too much to be able to celebrate. It's a sad celebration."

Kim's voice reached them even though she was speaking normally. Bonnie had to yell above the ringing in her ears. "Can you do something?!"

Kim kneeled in front of Tyler and Bonnie. "Not here. We need to get him to the woods, the mountain even. We're sounded by houses and people and everything that isn't us."

"He's not gonna make it from here to deep enough in the woods, that's too long a trek!" Bonnie fretted.

"He's not gonna make it _here_. Bonnie, listen to him. He doesn't want to move, because what you're doing feels good, but it's not healing him. He feels good, but it's delirium. He's getting worse. He can make it with us."

"Are you sure?!"

"I am."

But Kim's breath hitched in the answer, which told Bonnie that she wasn't completely sure. She was only hoping, just like her. Nevertheless, Tyler was _definitely _getting worse.

"Bonnie, you need to let him go!" Lucy said. She took her fingers off her ears and moved behind Bonnie to hold her shoulder in a show of support.

"I know," Bonnie said as she stared down at Tyler. Her breath caught in her throat. "Ty? You need to go. And you need to come back, okay? We're supposed to be in this together. Fifty-fifty, remember? So you have to come back."

She realized that things had turned very bad when she took her hands off of him, and he didn't object. Her heart thudded in her chest, and she beseeched Kim with her eyes.

Kim tightened her lips and gently took Tyler off of Bonnie's lap. Bonnie aided by gingerly removing herself from under him. Kim changed her eyes, red veins coloring her face, and infused Tyler with her healing power.

The others stopped singing their mournful song and came to their leader's aid.

"Come on," Lucy said, and she helped Bonnie stand and walked her backwards out of the shrinking circle. "We can't be here. We're in the way."

Kim trained her yellow, bloodshot eyes on Bonnie. "I'll take care of him."

Bonnie nodded. "Take care care of yourself, too. And the others."

Kim smiled. She laid her palm flat on Tyler's fur and concentrated, and a gentle wind swept the pack away.

Bonnie started. "What was that? Was that normal?"

"Uh, yeah," Lucy said as she put her arm around Bonnie. "Their powers are genetic like ours, which means different families from different parts of the world can do different things. It's usually just one special power, but yes it's normal. She looks like she knows what she's doing. He'll be okay."

Bonnie nodded a little too fast, and she could feel her neck becoming stiff. She took a big breath and covered her face with her hands. She exhaled and said, "I need to think about something else."

"We can move all of their clothes inside the house," Lucy said.

"We can clean the house," Bonnie added.

"Hold on a second, they might not be back by the time you're done, so if that's why you want to clean…"

Bonnie closed her eyes.

Lucy looked behind them and said, "Uh, Klaus' wolf bits have turned into human bits."

Bonnie turned around and saw Klaus' body parts scattered over the yard. The son of a bitch just had to leave Tyler suffering. "Here lies Klaus Mikaelson. Everyone hated him."

"What are we going to do with him? Incinerate?"

"Not until Tyler's back. He needs to be here for that. He _will _be here for that. In the meantime, uh, his family has a cellar….."

* * *

When Caroline arrived home, she had to calm a very anxious Carol Lockwood.

"Mrs. Lockwood, everything's fine. I only came back because things got dangerous for me. Tyler, he's-he's winning."

"Well if he's winning how could things have gotten dangerous for you?"

"Because werewolves don't like vampires, and there are thirteen _angry_ werewolves in that yard. Klaus was making a beeline for me, so I had to go. Or maybe he was coming for Bonnie and her cousin. Either way."

Carol put a hand on her hip and the other on her forehead and sighed in relief. "Is Bonnie okay? I mean…"

"She's fine. She's helping."

"And you're positive Tyler's okay."

"He's holding his weight. He's winning, Mrs. Lockwood. He's got a whole team."

Carol closed her eyes and nodded. And then she dissolved into tears. Caroline walked her to the couch and sat with her.

"I'm sorry, I'm just...I'm so scared for him. He's doing all these big things, taking these risks…."

"He's halfway there," Caroline consoled as she rubbed her back. "Trust me, I know how scary it is."

"He was talking about burying himself alive and getting possessed, and he's so driven. I never-" She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I knew Klaus was horrible. He turned my son into a monster. But I never realized how _angry _Tyler was, how much….he still thought about it. He doesn't give me the details, you know? He left town a lot, and I'm so sick of him leaving, but I always thought….I always thought that he had accepted it, that he was dealing with it. Like I was. I was so busy _dealing _with it that I ig-ignored my son," she realized, and she broke down again. Her memories were pulled back to a time when Richard Lockwood was alive and would oftentimes carry out a contentious relationship with Tyler. She had _dealt_ with that, too, and it had resulted in the same thing: she had failed to be there for Tyler to the best of her ability.

Caroline comforted her and shortly after, when Carol assured and reassured her that she was fine, she went to her bedroom and closed the door. She sat in front of her vanity mirror and looked at herself. She'd connected to what Carol was saying, and she hoped that Tyler made it. But she _still _felt sorry for Klaus.

"Fuck," she breathed in frustration. She got off the vanity and dug through her closet for the portrait that Klaus had given her, intent on ripping it, but when she found it she stared at the image of her next to a horse's head.

_Thank you for your honesty,_

_-Klaus_

Reading the words over again, she went to her bed and sat down. A portrait, a dress, and a bracelet. Those were the only existing evidence that Klaus could attempt to be a good person, and she owned all of them. She couldn't destroy them, not yet, maybe not ever. She'd meant what she'd said to him. She truly wished that he had lived differently. She wished that he had gotten a chance, that he had been able to _take _a chance. As horrible as he was, he had been dealt a sucky hand by his parents. What must it be like to indulge one's basic nature for so long and then one day want to change it for one person? Perhaps that had been too ambitious for him.

Damon came to her mind, and she put the drawing down. It wasn't the same thing. Damon was unwilling to change and he said as much every chance he got, not to mention that the asshole wanted to be an important part of Elena's life while he insisted on treating the rest of them however he pleased. Klaus had generally left them alone, unless they bothered him, which they had, a lot, with all of their plans to murder him. He had been playing the cure partnership straight, but Tyler and Bonnie had wanted something else.

Maybe people like Klaus weren't allowed to change after all that they had done. Even if they wanted to change, maybe they didn't deserve the chance, for the sake of all of the people that they had hurt.

She didn't hurt people, didn't kill anyone unless she had no choice, and she didn't maim. But she was going to live forever. Time was going to make sure that she ended up surrounded by people like the Originals and Damon and even Stefan, who had a severely ugly side. She was graduating high school soon. She couldn't cling to planning dances and volunteering forever. How the hell was she going to fit in?

* * *

Bonnie insisted on driving, because she did not want to be idle.

She and Lucy had walked to the cellar, levitating Klaus' body parts as they went.

They returned without incident, packed their things, and buckled in to leave Tyler's house. She thought about calling Caroline for the sole purpose of speaking to Carol, but she realized that stopping by the Forbes house meant delaying the moment when she would be alone in her room, wondering how Tyler was holding up.

She made the drive and knocked on the door when they arrived, Lucy standing behind her.

Carol moved the curtain to see who it was, and then she fumbled with the locks in her hurry to open the door. "Where's Tyler? Liz called and said the station was getting reports of howls in my neighborhood. Where's Tyler?"

Bonnie held out her hands and said, "He's _fine._ I mean-Klaus is dead. Tyler's hurt."

Carol stood in shock and looked behind Bonnie at Lucy.

Caroline, who had come jogging out of her room, asked, "What do you mean he's hurt? Is he in the car?"

"The other werewolves took him to heal him. They're banged up, too."

"How are they going to heal him if they're hurt, too?" Carol asked, worry making her raise her voice.

"Because they'll be surrounded by Nature," Bonnie answered calmly. "They'll be in their natural environment. Hey," she said when Carol got a far away look in her eyes like she was about to imagine the worst, "What he needs is for us to believe he's gonna be okay."

Lucy slid her attention from Carol to Bonnie. She sounded so together. Literally up to the moment that she had stepped out of the car, she had looked like she was still picturing Tyler weak and fading on the grass. She had kept a tight squeeze on the wheel for the whole drive over. Now, the only sign of the true depth of her emotions was how quietly she spoke, something she was sure that other people would mistake for the sympathy required when delivering not so great news.

"You're right," Carol said.

"He's gonna be okay," Caroline assured as she rubbed Carol's back. "And I'm sure the first place he'll come when he gets back is here so you can see," she said with an encouraging smile.

Carol nodded and tried to smile.

Caroline dragged her gaze to Bonnie and said, "So, Klaus is dead?"

Bonnie looked at her like she was finally registering that she was talking to Caroline. Here. In Caroline's house. All of that had gone down with Tyler, he was struggling to breathe, and Caroline was sitting in her house. Things could have gotten dangerous for her, sure, but had she really needed to clear the property and go blocks and blocks away to sit at home? Tyler had told her that he felt like Caroline wasn't in his corner, but Bonnie was still flabbergasted by the fact that the girl had missed Tyler's pivotal victory.

When Jeremy had asked her to be there the day that Shane had helped diffuse his urge to kill any vampire within sight, she had agreed because she'd known that it was a delicate situation for him, and she'd known that he wasn't a fan of people getting inside of his head. They weren't together anymore, but she was still considerate of Jeremy's deepest fears and concerns, and he was still considerate of hers, which was why he fully supported her decision to get the cure for her mother instead of his sister.

Caroline had left Tyler on what she knew was the biggest night of his life and gone all the way home.

"He's dead," Lucy confirmed when she saw Bonnie taking too long. "Chewed and scratched to bits and pieces."

Caroline kept her horror in check.

"He's dead," Bonnie repeated, her voice flatter now than when she'd been talking to Carol. "Gone." Then she added with a thin smile, "Sorry you missed it."

Caroline recognized an accusation when she heard one. Barely opening her mouth, she said, "You probably missed it because you were busy chanting, but Klaus made a beeline for us. I didn't have anything to protect me."

Bonnie slowly lifted her head in acknowledgment and reigned in her emotions. She shouldn't take her worry for Tyler out on Caroline. "Yeah, I know," she said resolutely. "Things could've gotten more complicated."

But she couldn't tear her hard stare away from Caroline.

Lucy put her hands on Bonnie's shoulders and tried to break the tension. "Okay, well we just wanted to stop by and let you know how everything went."

"Thank you," Carol said.

Bonnie lowered her gaze from Caroline and then lifted it to Carol. "Good night."

Carol nodded. When the women turned away, she quickly said, "And thank you….for helping him. Thank you."

Bonnie and Lucy nodded, and then they walked to the car.

"I'm driving this time," Lucy said, and she held out her hand for the keys.

Bonnie didn't feel like putting up a fight, so she surrendered and directed Lucy to the house.

* * *

When they arrived, Lucy cut the car off, and they sat in silence for a moment.

"That was, uh, that was really good," Lucy began. "Tucking your feelings away like that to talk to them? I've had to do that before. But I'm usually talking to strangers. I thought….you guys would lean on each other."

"I've got people to lean on," Bonnie said, and she looked from the floor of the car and smiled at her cousin.

Lucy smiled. "So I take it that was Tyler's ex."

"Caroline," Bonnie confirmed as she looked out of the windshield. "My _best _friend."

"You say best friend, but I kind of hear frenemy."

Bonnie smiled. "No, she's my best friend. We grew up together, we all did. Things are just different now. _We're_ different, and that makes us not completely compatible anymore. That's what tore her and Tyler apart," she said, turning her head to Lucy.

"And what brought you and Tyler together?" she guessed. Then she warned, "If you say he's not your boyfriend…"

"He's _not _my boyfriend," she insisted. She couldn't believe that she was smiling right now. "We haven't talked about that. He's just a really good friend."

"You mean a _really _good friend."

"Yeah, Lucy, a _really _good friend."

Lucy chuckled.

"He's a good person."

"And Caroline? I mean clearly she knows how good of a _friend_ Tyler's been to you, if that staring contest is anything to go by."

Bonnie exhaled steadily through her nose.

"You can tell me," Lucy said. "I'm not gonna run and tell your parents. I mean I'm not promising not to judge, but you can tell me."

"Yeah, that's the thing: it's complicated. It deals with a whole history between all of us. Bottom line: Caroline is my best friend. She hates me right now, but I'm sure beforehand she thought of me as her best friend, too. The girl who was freaking out so badly last night that she had to literally be put to sleep: would you have guessed that she had not one but _two_ best friends? The other one is Elena. _That _is...one...giant...mess. Elena's boyfriend is the vampire who turned mom. He wasn't her boyfriend at the time, but….yeah, he still managed to win her over after. And Caroline hates Damon. He was horrible to her. Elena knows that. But a couple of months ago at a sleepover we were having, she was singing his praises to Caroline. We're best friends.

I think we're used to each other. I think we love each other. We just have different priorities. I didn't care about Caroline's relationship," she admitted. "I mean, I wasn't looking to destroy it, I wasn't looking for anything to happen, but...I just felt like if it didn't need to happen, then it wouldn't have been happening, you know? That probably doesn't make sense, but you should've seen Tyler and Caroline at their beginning. They were just….so into each other. Perfect couple, always touching, always kissing. Not that any of us would've ever put them together, but they were working, and then Tyler was into me, and I was attracted to him, and we just clicked. Maybe that sounds typical, but we did. And even still, I assumed they'd work it out in the end despite the connection I felt to him, but then Tyler told me….She couldn't even be there for him tonight."

"She probably really was scared," Lucy said. "You and I don't know what it's like to have a natural enemy that can smell you out."

"She would have stayed if-if it was Stefan," she countered as the thought came to her. "I can't imagine her running and abandoning Stefan, but she _ran. _And that's the thing, that's the whole issue. The people you're supposed to rely on just..._disappear_. And then they have a perfectly good reason why, and that's supposed to make it okay. This is why-"

"Based on what I _saw,_" Lucy interrupted, laying her hand over hers, "It was more important to Tyler that _you_ were there."

"Based on their history, it sucks that she ran," Bonnie insisted.

Lucy submitted to her point. "Come on, let's get you inside."

* * *

When they entered, Rudy and Abby were waiting for them.

"I was about to come check on you," Rudy said. "I heard the car stop a couple of minutes ago."

"We were talking," Lucy said as she reached behind her to lock the door.

Abby crossed her arms and asked, "How did it go?"

"We won," Bonnie said plainly. "Klaus is dead."

"So why don't you look like someone who has something to celebrate?" Rudy asked carefully, throwing a quick look at Lucy.

"Tyler's hurt," Bonnie said quietly. "Badly. He's having trouble breathing, and, um….the others have taken him….somewhere….to try and heal him."

"To definitely heal him," Lucy corrected quietly. "He couldn't be in better hands, Bonnie. Communal pack healing is powerful stuff."

"I'm gonna go to bed," Bonnie told her father.

* * *

She was nowhere near falling asleep when Rudy knocked on her door.

"Come in," she said. She turned on the lamp and sat up against the wall.

Rudy sighed heavily and sat on the bed. "You're very very worried," he observed.

"I know he's gonna be okay. I just want to skip this waiting part and have him in front of me, talking, smiling, and laughing. I can't stop thinking about how hurt he is, so I keep forgetting that he's gonna be okay."

"Do you trust the people he's with?"

"I do."

"And Tyler's a fighter. I see that in him. If nothing else, him coming in front of us for your sake cemented it. This isn't what's gonna take him down. Besides, he and I still need to have a talk."

"About what?"

"How sweet he is on you."

"Oh my _God_," she cringed, even as she smiled. "_Sweet _on me? You sound like granddad."

"Hey, pop's a good judge of character and situations. I like to think some of that rubbed off on me. And what _I _judge is that that boy wants to be more than just your friend. But if you don't feel anything for him, then….there's nothing for me to talk to him about," he egged her on.

Bonnie gradually sobered.

"Do you?" he asked.

She opened and closed her mouth twice before answering, "Yeah. I like him. A lot. I love him."

"Based on what he said earlier, he loves you, too."

She smiled shyly. Then she remembered that Tyler might've meant that he loves her as a friend.

Rudy grimaced, because one detail still troubled him. "Isn't he dating your friend? Caroline?"

"They're over," Bonnie said.

"Mmm." He chose not to ask how that had come about. He was sure that he didn't want to hear it. Instead, he switched gears. "Listen. About what you said earlier. About your mother. I want you to know that…." He struggled to find the words as the pain of those fifteen years converged on him. "Your mother and I….were partners. We were partners. And….she broke that. She wrestled with her duty as a witch and what she felt she owed to herself: you and me. I had given her the option of leaving after you turned one. She didn't take it, swore she had to stay. And then….two years later….I got a note from her. A magical note. It said, I'm fine. I still have it. She'd sent me notes before, but I knew that that one…..

I called, and I called. I called for two and a half months. I called on your birthday the next year. Then Christmas. On your first day of kindergarten….I cried, not for the first time, but I cried, and I called her and told her how adorable you looked and that you'd screamed and thrown a fit. I called on your birthday again, then Christmas again. New Year's Day the year that you would turn eight was the last time I called her. I told her not to come back, that she never needed to see you again. I still have that number written down. And all these years, I've wondered….I've wondered if….if I called….would she pick up? Has she kept the number like I have?"

"But you never called," Bonnie said.

"I know that you were the best thing to happen to Abby. I still don't doubt that. She carried you for nine months, and….baby, I was not gonna beg anybody to love you. Not anybody. I wasn't gonna _convince _anyone of how special you are, least of all your own mother, the woman who-It's one thing for me to beg for myself. But you? Your uniqueness speaks for itself. I've _always _told you that."

Bonnie nodded. He had. She just had had no idea that it stemmed from what Abby had done.

"Maybe I should've reached out," Rudy considered. "Maybe I should've tried."

"It's okay that you didn't," Bonnie said. "I can imagine what that was like, and I'm pretty sure my imagination is nowhere close to actually going through it. But dad, you should've given _me _the choice of reaching out. You took away all of the pictures except _one_. I never….please tell me you have those pictures somewhere. No matter how many times I trained myself not to think about it, part of me still hoped that you just had them in storage somewhere."

Rudy sucked in a hesitant breath. "I do, but Bonnie….I just don't want you to get hurt. I'm not gonna know how to pick up the pieces if she leaves again. At least beforehand you hadn't had any experiences yet. You didn't really know her."

"I'll be careful," she promised. "I'm not running to her, heart first."

Rudy nodded and pulled her into a hug. "I worked very hard to make sure you weren't damaged by her, that you wouldn't miss her in any part of your life. I did my research to make sure that I would be enough. Those years, even with your grandmother, they were torture. I could never really be sure that you weren't lack anything, not internally. Everything scared the hell out of me."

"Like when I told you I wanted to straighten my hair in middle school, and you spent a month talking about black women's hair and gave me old issues of Jet Magazine?"

Rudy smiled as he remembered. "Yeah. Sheila finally convinced me to stop when she pointed out that I could be giving you a complex about your hair by doing that. I guess I didn't do such a great job. You're right: I shouldn't have kept her from you. I should've let you decide."

Bonnie hugged him tighter and closed her eyes. "You did a great job, dad. I wouldn't trade that month for anything."

* * *

About ten minutes after Rudy left, Abby softly knocked on the door. Bonnie turned the lamp on again and sat up.

"Come in."

Abby opened the door and smiled. Bonnie smiled back.

"I just, um, I wanted to make sure you were doing okay," she said as she sat down.

"I'm doing a little better."

"Lucy's right: he couldn't be in a better place. Communal healing is the best a werewolf can get."

Bonnie nodded.

"I'm sure you're gonna be one of his first pit stops when he gets back."

She smiled.

"I've thought about what he said. I'm on board."

"Mom, if you're uncomfortable-"

"My unease is largely due to guilt, which I brought on myself. This is about you, and I think that Tyler's conviction is….adequate, pleasing. Am I right in thinking that he's important?"

The similarity between how her parents had chosen to frame their question about Tyler made Bonnie smile. "You're right."

"I'm going to trust that someone like that would only want what is best for you."

"Thank you."

Before Bonnie slipped under the covers this time, she grabbed Tyler's jacket and put it on. She sniffed it when she laid down and closed her eyes as his cologne and natural musk filled her nostrils. Her mind was calm when she fell asleep, her thoughts on how valiantly he'd fought for her in front of her family, and she hoped that he somehow knew, wherever he was right now, that she was thinking about him.

* * *

**A/N2: Alright listen, now. I need y'all to prepare. I need y'all to get your minds right for the Tonnie reunion, because it's going to be intense, gloves off, all bets off, and I tried to prepare you as best I could by peppering hints in different chapters of the fic thus far. You been waaarned!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Enjoy! **

* * *

**Part 21: Witch and Hybrid: More Than Human**

On Sunday morning, Bonnie's worry was less pronounced, but it was still at the forefront of her mind. So she conceived the perfect solution to keep herself occupied. She was going to tell the others about Klaus' demise. Unlike when she and Tyler had first started this, she was ready to deal with the fallout. Besides, she had a card now that she didn't back then: the location of the cure. That had been the whole point of them needing Klaus. He had had the sword, which had been the only solid proof that the cure existed. They knew the location of the cure now, so why did Klaus need to be alive?

She was standing in front of her bathroom mirror and pulling her hair back into a high, severe ponytail, to match her mood. Because she was sure that there was going to be a lot of questions and confusion and wringing of hands from the group, and she was setting out with limited patience for all of it. Until Tyler was back safe, sound, and fully healed, everyone needed to tread lightly in her presence.

It was too late for Shane, though. Yes, she was going to go after him. If Tyler wasn't back by the time she finished meeting with the others, she was going to gun it all the way to Whitmore, and she was going to gut Shane for the stunt that had almost ended in Carol Lockwood's death.

The weather app said that it was going to be colder than usual all day, but she still showed some skin in a cotton, army-fatigue-shade green sweater. It had two holes that allowed her shoulders to poke out in the cold before the material resumed to make the long sleeves. She topped it off with a medium-sized triangular pendant that hung down to the middle of her sternum and featured a lapis lazuli crystal as the centerpiece. She wore black skinny jeans, the ankle boots that she had worn yesterday, and nude brown lip gloss.

She wore the necklace for Shane, in case he tried to lie to her. Lapis Lazuli had been Emily's favorite crystal, the crystal of truth, and she had remembered that she'd wanted one when her father had asked her to write down her Christmas wish list.

She'd sent a mass text to the group after she'd woken up, telling them that she wanted to have an emergency meeting at the Salvatore house and now her phone rang out a text from Caroline.

She finished up in the bathroom and retrieved it from the bed.

_I can't make it, have to look after Mrs. Lockwood. Are u gonna tell abt Klaus?_

_Yeah. How's Mrs. L doing?_

_She's holding up. Don't you think you should tlk to Tyler first?_

_It doesn't matter. It was always gonna b my responsibility 2 tell them._

_Have you heard from him?_

_No, haven't heard anything._

_Okay. Good luck._

_Thanks._

Bonnie put the phone in her right pocket, moved her wallet from her messenger bag to a small purse, and she went downstairs for breakfast, stopping to groan internally on the stairs when she was attacked by cramps from her throbbing uterus. Everyone _really _needed to act right today. Tyler was hurt, and now her body was going to do its painful monthly cleaning.

Abby was sitting at the kitchen table when she entered, and she immediately wanted to know where she was going.

"Uh," she said as she took out the pancake mix. "I'm going to break the news to the others that Klaus is dead."

Abby set her blueberry bagel down. "Are you sure you're up for that? You weren't exactly in the best shape last night."

"I need the distraction."

"Okay. Are you coming home after?"

"Why are you up so early? I thought mornings were worse than vervain for you."

"I can be up at eleven, now. It's that ungodly 6:30 in the morning when you set out for school that I can't stand. You dodged my question."

"I'm coming home."

"After."

"Yes. The meeting might run a little long, but…." she shrugged.

"Hmm. Is that a lapis crystal?"

"Yeah."

"Do you know its magical properties?"

"Crystal of truth."

"Among other things. Do you know I can call Lucy down here and make her use it on you since you wanna dodge my question?"

"Should I use it on _you _to find out if you're lying about making it affect me even though I'm wearing it?" she asked with a self-indulgent smile.

"You said you want a distraction. I can think of a couple of ways for you to distract yourself, including going after _Shane_. I didn't forget what you told Lucy the night Klaus attacked the Lockwoods."

"You have no idea how weird it is to have to answer about my plans now. He's _just _a mortal."

"Who's connected to a God!" Abby exclaimed. "What happened to waiting to go with Tyler? I support that plan now."

"I might not be able to wait for him, and I'm not gonna let Tyler come with me unless he's in tip top shape. Shane put a hit out on him and his pack. I'm going after him. _Don't worry_. And keep Lucy away. I can handle myself."

* * *

Later, she arrived at the boarding house at the same time as Matt. They greeted each other, and Matt threw his arm around her shoulders as they walked to the front door.

Stefan let them in, and Bonnie wondered if he was back to living in the house.

Stefan led them to the living room where Elena and Jeremy were sitting on the couch, and Damon was walking back and forth behind it with a drink in his hand. Matt was about to sit on the arm of the couch, next to Jeremy, but Damon shot him a warning look, so he sat between the Gilberts.

Bonnie took a seat in the individual chair that was to the left of the couch and crossed her right leg over her left. She had a good view of everyone.

"The only one missing is Caroline," Stefan said from his standing position next to Elena's end of the couch.

"She's not coming," Bonnie said. "She's looking after Mrs. Lockwood."

"Why does she need to look after Mrs. Lockwood?" Elena asked.

"Because Mrs. Lockwood is worried about Tyler right now."

"Well, she should be," Damon opined, "Especially since he's trying to run head first into Klaus."

Bonnie gave him a dispassionate look.

Damon didn't notice. "So what is this about? And _please _don't tell me you've stolen something else from Klaus."

"Klaus is dead." She looked everyone in the eye, one by one, starting with Jeremy on her left and ending at Damon behind the couch.

Damon put his hands on the back of the couch and slowly said, "The next words out of your mouth better be one of two things: just kidding, or I found out that Klaus already had the cure, so I killed him and now I have it."

"Actually, Tyler and his pack killed him. I helped."

"Bonnie," Matt said.

"What do you mean he's dead?" Elena asked.

"I mean Tyler ripped him to pieces."

"That's not possible," Stefan said pensively. "Klaus is indestructible. I don't think a lesser Hybrid could kill him. Not saying that Tyler's lesser," he amended carefully, "But he's not a strong as Klaus."

Telling them exactly how she'd helped Tyler, weakening Klaus, might cause them to question how she could do it by herself, especially since she'd lost most of her powers not even one month ago, so she'd already decided to be vague on that detail. "Like I said: he had me."

"Bonnie, you're sitting here all calm and collected, and I don't think you realize what you've done. Elijah will find out, and he'll want blood," Elena said.

"Forget Elijah," Damon said. "Klaus was supposed to give us a private jet to go after the cure. How the hell are we supposed to go get it now?"

"Okay, Elijah, I get, but you're worried about Klaus being dead because you might not get a private _jet_?" Bonnie asked incredulously.

"Stefan and I are dead, remember?" Damon asked as he widened his eyes. "The Federal government's gonna have a lot to say when two dead guys apply for passports."

"I have a passport," Bonnie said with a twitch of her neck. "So does Elena; so does Jeremy, Matt, Caroline...you two would be the only ones grounded. And Tyler and I are batting two for two, so if Elijah wants to be _stupid_, we can make sure he follows his family right to the OtherSide."

"Gee, that's a real nice attitude, _Tyler_," Damon said.

"It's my attitude, Damon, and it's gonna take me all the way to Capernaum. Meanwhile, yours is gonna take you…"

Jeremy smiled. Meanwhile, Stefan finally put two and two together regarding the mysterious girl who has been intruding on Caroline's relationship. He tried to tell himself that he was wrong, but with the attitude that Bonnie was displaying here, he wasn't sure that he could put giving in to Tyler's advances past her.

"Where's Tyler?" Matt asked.

Bonnie softened a fraction. "He's hurt badly from fighting Klaus and giving his strength to the pack. They've taken him away. He'll be back as soon as he can."

"Wait a minute, did Caroline know about this?" Damon asked.

"She was there for part of it last night. There wasn't really anything she could do to stop it, so don't even go to her about it," Bonnie told him with sufficient warning in her eyes.

"Bon, not that we didn't all need Klaus dead, but the Elijah thing is serious," Matt pointed out softly. "The last time he felt his life was in danger, he kidnapped Elena and threatened to _kill _her, which forced Stefan and Damon to….your mom. _Two_ of his siblings are dead now-"

"What I'm basically getting is that none of you feel that it was the right time to kill Klaus?" Bonnie asked, her brows raised.

"Not me," Jeremy said. "But I am worried about Elijah."

"I'm not," Bonnie replied. She had bigger things to worry about. "Tyler's safe, _free_, competition for the cure is gone, _no one_ will be harvesting Elena for her blood again, no one will be _killing _werewolves anymore, and every witch and mortal is that much safer. So when the people who _are_ bothered by his death finally grasp all of that, please let me know."

Task complete. She got up and walked out.

Jeremy was the one who came after her outside. He touched her elbow to get her attention. "Hey."

Bonnie turned to him. "Hey."

"I just...wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I just came here to let everyone know. We don't need Klaus. We have the one thing he was valuable for: the sword."

Jeremy nodded. Both of them were conscious that the vampires inside might be listening.

"Are you sure Tyler's gonna be alright?" he asked.

"I am. It's just a question of how long."

"You're worried."

Bonnie crossed her arms and raised her shoulders.

Jeremy heaved a big breath. He _had _recognized the truth in Damon's unnecessary comment. Of course he's always wanted Bonnie to stand up to the Salvatores, but he recognized that her present demeanor was unquestioningly influenced by Tyler's presence in her life.

"I guess that's a no to….what I said." When she looked up and frowned, he chuckled in disbelief and clarified, "What I said at the lake house before Christmas? I didn't think I'd ever be related to an afterthought where you're concerned. It stings."

They both blinked in surprise.

"Uh. A lot's been going on. I haven't really had time."

"Yeah," he agreed. Then he added, "But you've had time for Tyler."

"Uh. Okay. I'm gonna go, Jer."

"You know he all but walked me to the door the day the storm happened? You can do better, Bonnie."

"Excuse me?"

"You can do a lot better. He has a _girlfriend_."

"And the sanctity of a relationship started mattering to you when? I'm gonna go."

She turned but stopped cold. She faced him again out of curiosity and saw him blinking at the ground.

When he saw her looking at him, he said, "I don't even know why I said all that. I'm sorry. I didn't mean any of it."

"You didn't?" she asked doubtfully.

"A little. I did a little. I really think you should give us another chance-"

"Jerem-"

"He's not your type!"

She was stunned for a second too long, but she recovered. "I'm not having this conversation right now. And my _type _is whoever I'm interested in. And that's Tyler."

"Bonnie," he began apologetically.

"I'm leaving."

As she walked away, she brought her fingers to the pendant, a worried frown lining her forehead. Crystal of truth.

"Me and you work so much better, Bonnie!"

"Shut up, Jeremy! Stop!" she yelled back without looking at him.

Concurrently, Stefan, Damon, Matt, and Elena were reeling from Bonnie's arrival and swift departure.

Stefan's phone chimed a text, and it was sent by Caroline.

_Meet me at the Lockwood mansion when ur done with Bonnie's meeting!_

"Uh, I gotta go," he announced after he read the text.

"Where?" Damon asked "We need to figure out the plane situation and maybe figure out what the hell's wrong with Bonnie, _and _figure out a way to deal with Elijah's guaranteed wrath while we're at it."

"We're gonna do all of that in an afternoon?" Stefan asked sarcastically.

Damon grimaced and opened his arms.

"Sorry. It was Caroline," he said as he waved the phone, and then he put it back in his pocket.

"Did she text you about Tyler?" Elena asked with a frown.

"Uh, no. She just wants to meet."

"To talk about what?"

Stefan slowly cocked his head and frowned.

"I'm just curious about what you guys talk about when you get together," Elena explained with a shrug.

"Why does it matter?"

"Yeah, why does it matter?" Damon echoed.

Matt began to feel like he was going to become very uncomfortable. As such, he readied himself for the exit.

"She was glued to your side when you were blind, the dutiful friend, and last _I _checked Caroline hates the fact that I'm with Damon, but she's stopped telling me that, and Caroline doesn't just _stop_ talking about something, especially when she feels strongly about it, so I'm just wondering, now that you hate me, if she's moved to bashing me and Damon behind my back and to your ear."

"I don't hate you, but what me and Caroline talk about isn't any of your business."

"Uh, guys?" Damon tried.

"You _don't _hate me?" Elena doubted.

"I think you're making the biggest mistake of your life, but, hey, it's your life."

Matt stood and began to inch toward the hallway.

"So you _are _talking about me."

"Are you saying I'm not allowed to? Are you kidding? You left me for my _brother_-"

"I left you because you were _suffocating _me."

"But _Damon _doesn't suffocate you? That has _got_ to be the sire bond, because-"

"The sire bond is why I want the damn cure!"

Matt was out the door.

Damon slowly put his hands on the back of the couch and looked to his left at Elena. "I'm sorry, _what_? You said you wanted to be human again."

Elena blinked and stood. "I'm sorry….I have no idea what that was. Uh. Sorry."

After she left the room, Stefan gave Damon a smug smile. "Trouble in paradise?"

* * *

Elena was pacing and twiddling her thumbs inside of Damon's bedroom when he came looking for her.

"I still wanna know what that was about."

"It was nothing. Can you drop it, please? _I _don't even know what it was about."

"Let me help you out: you said you want the cure not just so you can become human, but because you being human would ostensibly break the bond."

"I want us to focus on Bonnie, and the cure, and what we're gonna do about Elijah."

"Right, the cure. The cure that you want so that you can break the bond."

"Damon, I'm not talking about this," she declared, and she moved for the door.

* * *

Twenty minutes have passed since Caroline started speed-cleaning the mess in the Lockwood mansion. The front door opened, and she froze. "Stefan?"

"Yeah."

Her tension evaporated. She resumed scrubbing Tyler's blood off the floor.

"Um," Stefan began as he came within view of her, "Don't say you called me over for housekeeping."

"No. Trust me, I need all of the work," she said, as she scrubbed.

"Is that….?"

She looked up. "Tyler's blood."

He held himself still. "Where's Klaus?"

"I have no idea. I didn't ask Bonnie. She and her cousin probably burned him to a crisp. I've looked around, but I don't see any ashes."

"Bonnie's cousin?"

For the second time, Caroline's blood cooled in her veins. She _probably _shouldn't have said that. "How did everyone take the news?"

"Caroline, did you say Bonnie's cousin is here? As in, a witch?"

"Okay, I really need you to forget that I said that, because you're probably not supposed to know," she said worriedly as she stood.

"What do you mean I'm not supposed to know? Why would it be a secret? What the hell is going on?"

"Bonnie probably called her to come help with the Tyler thing."

"She….told us that she just helped him. She didn't go into detail. Why would she omit _that _detail?"

"I don't know, Stefan, maybe because the last time she got her family to help in this town that family was turned into a vampire?" she snapped impatiently.

Stefan closed his eyes as he remembered. "Right. Right, no wonder. I just didn't know-Wait, so this would be the same cousin who helped us trap Katherine two years ago."

"Why does it matter? You're never gonna see her. She's probably halfway out of town by now," she lied. But she was upset, and his questions were annoying her, and she was doubly upset for letting Lucy slip out. She can just imagine Tyler telling her that she's untrustworthy.

"Are you okay?"

"_No_. _How_ did everyone take the news, Stefan?"

"Like you'd expect. Damon's upset, I'm still trying to figure it out, and Elena's worried about the pushback from Elijah."

"Oh my God. Elijah."

"And Bonnie's on a confidence high."

Caroline curled her upper lip and rolled her eyes.

"Why are you here? Why didn't you come to the meeting?"

"Because I had to do this. I was on my way, and then I realized-Listen. After I'm through with this, I need you to take me to the old Forbes jail, and then I need you to do to me what Lexi did to you. Only, without the pain. I need a lobotomy. Stefan, I'm losing my mind. I can't stop thinking, and my emotions are being stupid about Klaus. When I realized that I wasn't gonna find his remains, I actually got mad and thought Bonnie should've given him at least _some _dignity and let m-us know where he's buried. I thought that! I actually got mad! I shouldn't be thinking that, and I shouldn't be getting mad! So can you please help me?"

"You feel bad about Klaus' death," Stefan summised.

Caroline gulped in air and closed her mouth.

"Caroline, it's okay. We've talked about this. We both….saw a different side to him. Or, in my case, he saw a different side to _me_. I don't think it's hit me yet. I'm still thinking about Bonnie."

"Yeah, speaking of a different side," she said hesitantly as she walked around Stefan, forcing him to turn in order to see her. "I need to purge. And that's part of why I need a lobotomy. I need to cleanse my mind."

"Caroline, I'm not giving you a lobotomy. I don't even know what Lexi did to me. And what she did didn't even work. I still lust after blood."

"So, I'm hopeless."

"Caroline, feeling sad about Klaus isn't hopeless. Now, maybe you can't go around letting everyone _know _you feel sad, but that's why you have me, right?" he asked with a small smile.

Caroline didn't return it. Instead, she looked at the living room. Looking back at Stefan, she said, "I needed to get here before Bonnie did. I didn't want Tyler asking her to help him clean up when he got back-"

"Because she's the other woman," Stefan said.

Caroline looked like her clothes had just ripped off in a room full of people.

"It's okay. I figured it out today. Her...attitude….about Tyler and this whole Klaus thing helped me put the pieces in place."

"Yeah, well. I'm not counting it as a loss yet. I can still get Tyler back. I can still…." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I need you to not judge me, okay? I need you to be that one person who knows the whole me. Okay? Just like Klaus knew the whole you."

Stefan nodded. "Okay."

Caroline puffed out her chest and closed her eyes tight. The words took a bit of time to come, but finally she exhaled, "I slept with Klaus."

Stefan stared at her.

"Like, full on, home run, the whole shebang."

Stefan stared at her.

"Say something! This is driving me crazy enough!"

"You slept with Klaus."

She frowned.

"You _slept _with Klaus."

"Right in there, hours before….."

"You….basically gave him his last meal?"

"Ew, don't say it like that. There was….none of that. Can you please say something else? I just want to not be the only one dealing with this. I thought I could do it. I wanted to do it, but overnight these thoughts have threatened to eat me alive. And that's why I came here to clean up, because when Bonnie sent that text, I remembered that she's psychic and has visions and stuff, and what if she has a vision of me and Klaus while she's helping Tyler clean?"

She suddenly gasped long and loud. "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my _God_, I'm so _stupid_!"

"What?" Stefan asked, alarmed.

"I just confessed! I just confessed! Right here! In Tyler's house. Where Bonnie's _sure_ to come. She was saying this stuff about energies the night before last and how your emotions influence the space you're in and like leaves a mark, and I just put it out there that I slept with Klaus. I just shot myself in the foot!"

"Caroline, _calm down_, okay? I know a little something about witches, and they're not guaranteed psychic hits and visions. Just because the energy's in the room, doesn't mean they'll pick up on it. You're fine."

"I'm _not _fine. You should've said that they can't pick up on the energy at all. _That _would make me fine. Oh my God. Oh my God, Tyler cannot find out about this. _No one _can find out about this. Oh my God, hopefully she'll be too busy dealing with Silas, Shane, and April to focus on my stupid energy."

"Wait a second, back up. What does Shane have to do with Silas?"

"Ugh!" She covered her face with the inside of her arms. "I'm _sick_ of keeping secrets! You can't tell anyone, but Shane is involved with Silas. Or at least Bonnie thinks so. She thinks he's the one who tipped Klaus off about Tyler's plan in hopes of Klaus killing the whole pack."

"Why would Shane do that, and how can you ask me not to tell anyone, Caroline, this kind of concerns all of us."

"It does, but-I'm sure Bonnie will tell everyone when she's ready. Look, I already put my foot in it when I asked April about Klaus' painting, long story, so I really don't want her to know that I opened my mouth again. Just trust her."

"Trust her? How am supposed to do that when she has all these secrets? She's putting all of our lives in danger, first Elijah and now Silas? She should be sharing all of this."

"Well, this one isn't malignant," she tried to convince him. "Stefan, her life's in danger. April said that she's the key to Silas' release. Remember she said the storm affected her, and she thought Silas was behind it? So I'm sure she's going to ask for help soon. She can't fight him by herself. She's gonna need us."

"Caroline, there's no way I'm gonna keep this a secret. Not for you, not for Bonnie, not for anyone. Bonnie takes on a lot, and she does a lot, so maybe she doesn't want to worry us, especially with us looking for the cure, but I'm not gonna let her fight this by herself or with just Tyler. They'll _both_ get killed. Elena would be devastated if something happened to Bonnie, especially if it happens because Bonnie's looking for the cure that she's apparently desperate to get her hands on."

"Wait, since when was Elena desperate for the cure? Everyone's been doing the work and the research while she's just been sitting in the background."

Stefan sighed. "It's nothing you need to know."

"If I thought that, then I wouldn't be asking, Stefan. Come on."

He looked at her for a second longer, and then he told her about the strange conversation.

"What, so she's jealous?"

"I don't know. I'm not gonna try to figure it out."

"Well, anything that knocks Damon down a peg can't be a bad thing. And it's good that Elena at least realizes that the sire bond is a bad thing. That's surprising. I just can't believe she's jealous of our friendship. The nerve."

"I'd rather not waste brain power on it. Back to Bonnie and Silas."

"Okay, can you give me a chance to try and convince her to spill the beans to you guys before you say anything to anyone? Give me a day? Make it tomorrow, so I can get myself together. If I haven't convinced her by tomorrow after school, then you can spill it, and I'll just...deal."

Stefan was not pleased with the idea, but he gave her the leeway. "Fine."

Caroline dropped her shoulders in relief. Not that she was out of the woods yet.

Stefan watched her face transform into the most despondent version of itself, the saddest he's ever seen her. She was back to thinking about what she'd done with Klaus. "Why did you even do it?"

"Because I'm an idiot?"

"Caroline."

"Because….ugh."

"You wanted revenge for what Tyler did," he offered.

Closing her eyes, she admitted, "That wasn't even on my mind. It should've been. I mean I was pissed. Finding out about Tyler and Bonnie….I guess it freed me up. But it shouldn't have. Tyler and I are broken up, so _technically_ I'm not guilty. _He's _the cheater. But, ugh, Klaus was so _horrible _to him, and I did _that_. But he was just so….cute and set to die, and I felt bad for him, and he opened up to me, and I just….I wanted to know what it was like. This whole time I've been…..

Okay, so this is a purge, right?" she asked. Her chest felt uncomfortable, like there was a weight on it but also like something was pressing to come out, something like vomit. "This whole time….I've wanted to. I've thought about it. But clearly it wasn't an option and was never gonna happen," she rushed to say. "Which sometimes made me feel like it was _okay_ to think about it. It wasn't like I wanted him to be my boyfriend, but….You know how you just said that he saw a side of you?"

"Yeah."

"He saw a side of me, too. And it's a side that I'm not completely comfortable with, but he saw it, and every time he teased me about giving him the time of day, I knew that he saw that side. I didn't even know I _had _it until I met him, and I don't _want _to have it."

"What side is that?" Stefan asked calmly.

She closed her eyes and lowered her head. "I don't want to say. It's horrible, and I'm the worst person"

Right then, Stefan thought he had an idea. "You liked what he was."

"No," she said quickly, her head snapping up. Then she deflated. "I didn't _want _him to do what he was doing."

"Caroline, if you try to split hairs, you're gonna drive yourself crazy."

"But I didn't! I really _didn't_. It's _complicated_. It was the whole package. It's not like I'm gonna go for any old-" she almost said killer, "-person who's like Klaus."

"So now what?"

"Now, I forget it. Now, I get a lobotomy."

"Not possible," he said with a shake of his head.

"I can't live with it. I don't want to remember it, or think about it, or know about it."

"You know you're gonna have to," he said sympathetically. "Besides, like you said, this won't get out past you and me. You just have to….accept it." He wanted to ask her if she regretted it. Despite her distress, he still wanted to hear her say whether or not she regretted it. But he wasn't sure if she even knew. He felt a little bad for her. Their situations weren't the same, but he remembered the time as a new vampire when he had to wrestle with acting and thinking differently than he had as a human. He had become a stranger to himself.

"It was a one-time thing," he pacified. "Literally. He's dead. So, just think of it as a mistake and move on. Or we can find a witch who's not Bonnie who will suppress the memories for you. Now that sounds like something that comes with side effects, but I'll help you if you want to try."

"Do you think I'm a horrible person?" she asked timidly.

Stefan puffed out his chest and raised his brows. "I don't think it's about being horrible or not horrible. I mean Tyler would probably think you are. No question about it. But I think it's more about you changing."

"I don't wanna change. Not like this, not into this."

"But we don't _know _that it's a change, and you should focus on that. It was one thing, a mistake. One occurrence does not mark a change, not definitively. I mean look, this is clearly eating at you, tearing you up inside."

She nodded.

"So, you haven't changed. We make mistakes, and in our world, they can sometimes be as high stakes as the risks we take. As vampires, especially young vampires, our mistakes can shock us and make us question who we are. But it's not a death sentence."

"I just want to go back to when Tyler was my boyfriend, and I'd never heard of Klaus Mikaelson."

Stefan pulled her into a hug. "You're not a horrible person, Caroline. For as long as I've known you, you've looked out for your friends and tried to involve everyone in everything to keep their spirits up. I think you care more about us as a functioning group and unit than anyone else. You're just dealing with your own hiccup right now."

"It sucks," she said on his shoulder. "Let's go back to everyone else having the hiccup, and I just hang back and pick up the pieces. If Tyler finds out I slept with Klaus, I'm leaving Mystic Falls and never coming back."

* * *

Two hours later, Bonnie pulled up to Shane's building, still trying to temper her annoyance at Jeremy. Yeah, he hadn't meant to say it, would've never chosen to say it, and probably would've felt bad about even thinking it if the crystal had given him a chance.

But he'd said it, because it was his gut reaction when he thought about her and Tyler. _She can do better_? As in Tyler's not good enough? The next time Tyler and Jeremy were in the same room, she was going to walk up to Tyler and give him the lewdest kiss.

Jeremy had no idea what the hell he was talking about. She hadn't known that the crystal pulled the truth out of people willy-nilly. She had planned on saying a couple of words to it before she went up to Shane's apartment, but apparently the lapis only needed to be on her person to be activated. Kind of like Emily's talisman. That would serve her even better where Shane was concerned.

She took off her seatbelt, her eyes on the building. She got out of the car, locked it, and headed to the entrance. As she ran up the steps, she remembered that she had no guard against the smells in the apartment. But she was fine with collapsing if it meant killing Shane first.

And killing him on an early Sunday afternoon was better than killing him at night when everyone would be home.

She got to the door and ignored the knocker. She knocked thrice with her knuckles, then thought better and banged three more times with her fist.

Impatience rolled up her chest when he took a second too long to answer, so she put her hand on the knob and casted the same spell that she'd used on the janitor's office door in Founders Hall at the same time that Shane said, "Be right out!"

When Bonnie opened the door, she found Shane locking the door to the room that had stumped Tyler, Adrian, and Kim.

"Hey, Shane," she said casually as she closed the door behind her. "Coming out of your secret room?"

"Bonnie." He slipped the key in his pocket. "Were you the one who...came through the door a couple of weeks ago?"

Bonnie cocked her head.

"The day I met you and Damon for coffee, ah, I came home to find the front door had been damaged."

"Do you really give a damn about the door, Shane? The _front _door?"

"Bonnie….what's….what are you doing? Why'd you-"

The affected pauses and faux confusion made her send him crashing into the wall above the couch.

"Bonnie. What are you doing?" he strained after he flopped down to the couch.

"You sound like something hurts. Trust me, you're not hurt yet." She balled her right hand into a fist and pulled it to her right. Shane screamed at the top of his lungs when his right shoulder was pulled from its socket.

"I know what you did, Shane."

Shane struggled to his feet, his right arm dangling. "What? What's going on, Bonnie?"

"Talk to me about Hayley."

"Hayley?"

She jerked her left fist, and his left shoulder went. "April," she said over his yell. "Silas? If you're confused about those names, too, I'll go for your kneecaps. At the same time. _You _called Klaus."

"I did," he labored.

"You _did_," she snarled. She sent him flying right shoulder first into the adjacent wall that held the door.

"Fuck!" Shane yelled when he'd fallen to the floor. "Bonnie, please. I can help you."

"With what, Shane?"

"I had no choice. I didn't have a choice. _Damn it_!" he suffered on the floor. "But you can have him back. You can have Tyler back. You just have to do what he says."

Then and there, Bonnie made a strategic decision. Killing Shane would give her immense satisfaction, but it wouldn't give her the upper hand. Lucy was right, she needed to think clearly. And though her next move wouldn't give her _much _of an upper hand, it would at least derail Shane, Silas, and April and create room for them to make a mistake that could work better in her favor than killing Shane would.

"Do what _who_ says?" she asked as she bent at the waist to look down at him.

"Silas. Silas."

She did her best to look angry-shocked. The only thing she couldn't fake right now, no matter if she tried, were tears to go with Tyler's fake death. She made herself barely say the name, so shocked was she. "Silas."

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Bonnie. But I need him. He's real, and I need him. My wife. I need her back."

"Your _wife_?"

"She's dead."

"You _killed _Tyler for your _wife_."

"Silas can bring them back," he said enthusiastically, and then he groaned in pain. "Listen. He can bring back the dead, and he's promised to help everyone who helps him rise. You can have Tyler back. You can have your _grandmother _back. You can turn your mother back from a vampire. I mean she's dead right? If Silas brings her back to life, then she'll be alive and a witch again."

That shook her composure. "How do you know about my mother?"

"I gleaned it when I hypnotized you that day. Remember? I spent the whole day questioning you about your life: your fears, your dreams, your heartbreak-"

"Stop! Stop."

When he frowned, she realized that it was time for her and the crystal to go.

"Bonnie, I'm sorry. I don't why I said-"

"How do I raise Silas?"

_This_ bout of him trying to catch his breath was a stall. He's been waiting for this moment, yet he was unprepared on how to answer. "He'll contact you. Just like he did me."

"Right. Of course. Why would He tell you his secrets?" The hatred that she felt for Shane's existence was so plain that she distantly wondered how he didn't see through her gamble.

She straightened and headed to the door.

"Bonnie, wait," he struggled. He heaved himself to his feet and faced the door. "Please," he said, indicating his torn shoulders.

"I came here to kill you, Shane. And I will after me and Silas are done. For now, your shoulders will have to do." She jutted her right hand out and twisted it. Shane's knees twisted in the same direction of her wrist, and he crashed to the floor. "That's for stalling," she said.

She opened the door and left him screaming.

* * *

Once inside of the car, she put on her seatbelt and wondered how much time she had before Silas contacted her. She didn't have a plan of attack for Him, and she wasn't sure that she was in the right mindset to brainstorm.

"So you didn't kill him because you're going after the bigger fish?"

Bonnie screamed and magically shoved whoever it was away from her.

"OW!"

"KIM!" she screamed. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"What the hell are _you _doing?! You didn't have to push me like that!"

"You're lucky I didn't push you right through the _door_! _Geez_! What is _wrong _with you?"

"You banged my head against the window," Kim complained as she rubbed the spot. Normally, she wouldn't have felt the pain at all, but she's been using her energy to help heal Tyler and the others, so she was a little tender. The entire pack was.

"That's the least of what you deserve," Bonnie said, a hand over her racing heart. "What the heck are you doing here? _How _did you get here?"

"I got here the same way I left the yard last night."

Bonnie noticed that, unlike last night, Kim wasn't naked as the day she was born, though her skin was dirty. She cocked her head. "Are those my clothes?"

"Yeah. You're a tiny little thing, though I'm sure my body looks great in these."

"Kim, why are you here? Actually, hold that thought."

She started the car and backed out of the parking lot. When she passed the second streeth light, she resumed, "Okay, what is it? I know Tyler hasn't taken a turn for the worse, because if he _had _I'd hope you'd be a little more sensitive than scaring me half to death."

"Tyler's fine. Well, he's going crazy. Hopefully your family's having luck restraining him, but we were in the Appalachians, doing our healing thing, deeply connected to our nature, _Nature_, and the moon, we literally have not slept a wink since yesterday, and we're just deeply connected to the pack. And all of a sudden, maybe ten minutes ago, Tyler says he has to leave. Well, he barks it. We ask him why, and he doesn't know. He just knows that something's wrong, that he needs to be somewhere. Our thought processes and memories aren't as concrete in wolf form, and that's made up for by our instincts. We think with emotions. So the bond between you guys is stronger for him when he's an animal, so he knows something's wrong. He just doesn't know what or why or even who. So he starts trying to leave, and of course I don't remember human you either, so I'm convincing him to stay. Finally, he disappears, which I didn't know he could do. I follow him, and he's at his house, in the backyard. He's still barking, so finally I shift back so I can think better.

This sets him off even more, and I realize now it's because I reminded him of you: girl who walks on two feet. So he tells me that there's trouble, that something's not right, and I finally ask about you, and he doesn't recognize your name, but when I say take me to Bonnie, we end up at your house. He ends up inside, I get stuck outside. No invitation. Being inside the house sets him off even more, and he starts to shift back, which sent me bumping against the shield to stop him. He was _full_ on panicking and inconsolable. I try to tell him that I'll find you, by this time I'm inside, but he's not hearing it. So finally, this woman, vampire, tells me where you might be. Or she tries to, because Tyler turned on her, and she had to get out of dodge-"

"Is she okay?" Bonnie asked, riveted by the story as she drove.

"She's fine. She ran out of the house."

"So the other woman finishes telling me where you are. I promise Tyler that I'll protect you, and then your dad told me I could find some clothes in your room. I would've come naked, but then I realized I might need to talk to someone, so I took him up on the offer. Still barefoot, though."

"Is Tyler okay? I mean, why didn't you let him shift back?"

"Because it would be too much on his body right now. He needs to stay in one state. Shifting means our bones breaking, remember? Wounds and fractures galore, and we don't heal from them until we're fully human or fully lycan. Tyler could break something bad and become stuck because it's too severe to continue."

Bonnie nodded, both hands squeezing the wheel.

"So, Smelly Asshole did call Klaus."

Bonnie realized then that she hadn't fainted when she'd walked out of the apartment. She took one hand off the wheel and touched the lapis crystal.

"But you want Silas, not him. Who's Silas?"

And in that moment, Bonnie knew. She knew. She went to answer like normal, but intuition, freed for just a moment by the crystal, stopped her. And she played back Shane's words.

_I gleaned it when I hypnotized you that day. Remember? I spent the whole day questioning you about your life: your fears, your dreams, your heartbreak-_

He'd gotten in her head. He had entered her mind. He had taken what he'd wanted. Same as Silas had done the day of the storm. The first time, information, the second time, power. Maybe it was about as concrete a proof as the _A _on Hayley's cell phone had been, but this link resounded. Shane had made her sniff the incense that day in his office, and then he'd given it to her to take home. It had never affected her powers because he hadn't wanted to affect her yet.

Shane wasn't the perfect minion who'd carried out Silas' bidding to a T. He _was_ Silas, carrying out _His_ plan.

"Yo, break!" Kim yelled.

Bonnie stomped the break and swerved to the left lane at the last minute.

"Holy shit," Kim exclaimed, wide-eyed.

Heart in her throat and body numb from shock, Bonnie looked at the rear view mirror. The driver she'd cut off was honking her like they were never going to take their hand off the horn. The car only far enough for her to have barely made the swerve without causing an accident. "Shit."

"What happened?" Kim asked, her eyes still wild.

"I don't know. Nothing."

"Oh really."

Bonnie blinked. Both hands were back on the wheel, and her arms were trembling.

"Let's hope Tyler didn't feel that. I should probably go now and tell him everything's okay."

"Wait, can you take me with you? Like, can you take the whole car if I park somewhere?"

"I'm sure I can. It's just the landing: middle of a Sunday, in a residential neighborhood…."

Exposure. Bonnie relaxed her shoulders in disappointment. "Okay."

"What should I tell your folks? And Tyler?"

"That I'm fine. And that I didn't kill Shane for a reason." She'd gotten more than she'd bargained for as a result of that decision, but would she really have been able to kill Shane? He wasn't just a mortal.

"Okay. Tyler might be waiting for you when you get back-"

"It's gonna take me two hours to get back. He needs to heal. Convince him to go back to the pack. He can come back in two hours. Don't let him stay in the house and miss out. And tell him-" _I love him _"-I miss him."

"I will."

* * *

Bonnie cruised the rest of the way to Mystic Falls. She relaxed against the seat and drove the speed limit like she had taken to the road to clear her mind, to see the sights.

She didn't hurry back to Mystic Falls. Many impatient cars passed her on the highway and on the inside routes. Tyler would probably come back long before she did, if he even came back, if he'd even left in the first place. She didn't hurry to him.

And when she entered Mystic Falls, she didn't go home. She headed to the quarry. She had a little difficulty finding the body of water itself after she parked her car. It wasn't one of her usual hangouts, but she found it.

She found it and released a sigh when she walked to the edge. The water was beautiful. With all of the tragedy in Mystic Falls, it was easy to forget how beautiful the land itself was.

She traveled her gaze across the water. The quarry was just one ending point of the falls. The lake at the Gilbert lake house was another, the lake where Tyler had thrown his last swimming party, the one she'd missed, was another. A triangle.

She stood on beige-brown dirt and pine, and the water was calm, with not even the shadow of a wind to disturb it. She was glad that she'd come here instead of some place noisier like the embankment near Wickery Bridge.

Calm, was how she felt. Not even Silas' looming shadow disturbed her spirit. She was ready to think. She backed up from the edge of the water and sat down. She crossed her legs and set the car keys and phone next to her, and she thought.

Silas had gotten in her head twice. And maybe that was it. Maybe He couldn't get in her head anymore. The incense was the gateway, and she hasn't taken a whiff since the lightning storm.

But maybe repetition didn't matter, maybe it was still in her system, akin to vampire blood, and He would have access until the fumes of the incense passed through her. She needed to protect herself from His reach. She couldn't go through that pain again.

She also needed a full profile on Silas: His abilities, His _goal_. He wanted to get out. Why? To cause chaos. Why? Because Qetsiyah had entombed Him. And after? Aim for tenure at the college? Silas was so ambitious that He had declared Himself a God. What was He going to do after He got His revenge? Were Pastor Young and whoever else He'd promised to bring back, Hayley probably one of them, going to factor in somehow?

Getting Silas' profile was going to be difficult unless she asked Him directly or Lucy's plan of contacting Qetsiyah bore fruit.

She put the profile thing low on her list. After all, she's been learning by doing ever since she'd developed her powers. Getting a neat and structured profile on Silas before she made any moves was probably out of the question.

Still, she needed to know His limitations, because He surely had some if His spirit was free yet He still wanted the body. She had just hurt Him. That was something. Unless He had faked it.

No. Those screams had been too real.

His powers. He'd taken hers to cause the lightning storm. He wasn't at full capacity.

And He would never be, if she had anything to say about it.

A hand touched her left shoulder, and she quickly grabbed it, positive that pain was coming next for her. But when she turned around….

"Tyler."

"I've been calling your name."

She sighed in relief. Then she frowned when she registered his nakedness. "Oh my God, why are you human? Kim said that's dangerous," she chastised as they tightened their hold on each other's hand to help her stand.

"Hey, the only one who knows how bad I feel is me. It's okay."

"No it's not, change back." She poked her hands up and down his side.

"Hey, come on," he protested as he flinched away from her reach.

"See? Ty...God, you probably shouldn't even shift back, because _that's _dangerous."

"This is worth the risk."

"Not from where I'm standing."

"From where _I'm _standing."

"You could've come see me as a wolf."

"I needed to talk to you."

Despite her muted emotional state, hearing his voice again allowed something that had wilted inside of her since he'd collapsed in the yard the night prior to grow and shine again. She noticed that his eyes were all werewolf. "Can you handle a hug?"

"I just broke every bone in my body for this. I can handle all of you, Bonnie. Come here." He stepped forward and pulled her into a hug.

Bonnie pulled back immediately. "You're burning up," she said anxiously.

"I'm healing. My temperature's higher than normal. It's what's supposed to happen, don't worry."

Bonnie nodded, satisfied by the explanation. She took him in her arms again.

Tyler's body was sore, but her embrace felt so good. He closed his eyes and sniffed her.

Bonnie, too, closed her eyes, and she lifted herself to her toes. He was dirty, smelled a mixture of outside, rocks, dirt, and animal, but it was a nice mix, perfect, and she hugged him closer.

The gesture drove Tyler to inhale her scent more deeply.

"What happened?" he asked in the crook of her neck.

"Shane is Silas."

Tyler tightened his hold on her. He wasn't shocked. It was news, but he wasn't shocked. She didn't seem to be either. They've been saying Silas' name for a while, knew that He was active. The fact that they now knew where He was now was a relief to him. Now they could put a face to the Person who had hurt Bonnie.

He let her go, and Bonnie lowered herself to her real height.

"No one else knows yet. I needed to think."

"I felt it. How are you doing?"

She smiled. "I think I cried all of my tears the other night. This weekend has been one sad or disappointing thing after another. I think I'm stable. Maybe tapped out, too, but definitely stable. Plus I've been worried about you. I don't know if anything could top that. I'm okay. I already cried about Shane's betrayal, Silas is….an obstacle. A goal."

Tyler lifted his knuckles to stroke her cheek. She was all heat, smells, emotions, and sound in his werewolf eyes. Her restrained voice tightened around her body, and he wanted her to release. Everything coming off of her was too….quiet. She was indeed calm, but he wanted her to light up somewhere.

"How come I didn't feel the bond?" Bonnie asked.

"How do you know about the bond?"

"Kim mentioned it earlier. And Lucy said some things last night that put me on the path. We're bonded, right?"

"We are."

Something about the way he answered, not forceful, yet not at all casual, hit it home for her that he was dealing with her from an entirely different vantage point. Still Tyler, but he hasn't changed his eyes back at all. From last night to this late afternoon, in the mountains, with a pack, connecting to his nature, Nature, and the moon, like Kim had said, this was probably the longest he's ever stayed in his wolf form.

Neither fear nor worry found refuge in her. She trusted him to maneuver his world as much as she trusted herself to maneuver hers.

"Are you okay with it?" he asked as he stroke his thumb across her chin.

"I am," she smiled. "Did you….make it happen?"

"_We_ made it happen. It's our connection, our...emotions. It couldn't exist if you didn't….feel for me."

She liked that better. Smiling, she said, "I do. I feel for you."

"You're powerful, Bonnie, strong, and you know how to use it. You know how to show it. _We _made it happen." He lifted her chin and kissed her. They didn't come any closer, didn't touch except for their mouths and his fingers holding her chin. Bonnie felt that something inside of her grow taller. He was the perfect salve.

Her lips remained parted after he ended the kiss. "You still haven't told me why I didn't feel your worry," she said, and she opened her eyes.

Tyler licked his lips. When he spoke, it was from a place of ancestral knowing, nothing that Kim or Adrian had told him. "For the same reason that I didn't feel it when you panicked during my fight with Klaus. Our bond is mutual but not telepathic. It's a call, or it's a response, but it can't be both. Not right now. And it's stronger on my end when I'm a werewolf. And more intense." His forehead twitched as he remembered the barrage of emotions he'd felt when he couldn't get to her earlier. Now he knew that it was worry, but on paws it had felt like she was off dying somewhere and he couldn't get to her.

His link to his Betas' emotions was also stronger when he was in full transition, which was another aspect to his injuries.

"When does it become telepathic?"

"When….it exists between Mates. Packs can disband. Kids grow up and leave, despite a bond. Mates are supposed to be forever, especially for an Alpha. It's part of protecting our pack."

"Supposed to be."

He smiled. "Supposed to be. Sucks for us if it's torn."

Tyler's smile widened. Her body was screaming _interested_. It was flying off her skin. Much better than the quiet of before.

"Is it like the imprinting in Twilight?"

"I've never seen Twilight."

"Like hell you haven't," she said with a small smile. "You dated Caroline. There's no way you've never seen it. _I_ made Jeremy watch it."

"We don't stare like in Twilight."

Bonnie smiled. She'd guessed correctly.

"A wolf _Marks_ their Mate."

"Can a Mate _Mark _their wolf?"

"Only if they're a wolf, too."

She simmered down with disappointment.

"So they say," he added. "Not a whole lot about were-witch unions. Definitely nothing on Hybrid-witch. We can look into it."

Bonnie parted her lips. _We can look into it_. He was either cocky, or she was transparent. Probably both, considering he was him, and she was her. Either way, she was into the near affirmative statement.

She turned her mouth to the fingers that still rested on her chin, and he brought them up to caress her lips. Bonnie's eyes fluttered closed, and she relied on her sense of touch as he ran the pad of his thumb on her full lips and disturbed what was left of the brown lip gloss.

Tyler found her breathtaking like this, and his dick responded to the texture of her lips.

Bonnie slowly brought her hand up and pulled his wrist down, removing his fingers. She straightened her head, closed her mouth, and opened her eyes. "You should go."

"Why?"

"Maybe the pack can still help you like this. I mean, you _are _still a werewolf and their leader."

"I'm not going anywhere."

She looked down at his hardening dick and lifted her brows. Looking up at him, she said, "Well, I have work to do. I need to think on this Shane stuff. Like, I'm pretty sure I need my mom and Lucy to leave town so they can be my surprise weapons if I need them to be."

"I can help you think."

With those lycan eyes, he didn't look like he wanted to help her think at all. "Tyler, I can't do...what you're thinking about doing. It's too risky."

"How?"

She self-consciously rolled her eyes. "Because I'm pretty sure I'm getting my period today. Not exactly the kind of reunion I want to have," she said as she looked down at his impressive penis.

"You're not _positive_ that you're getting it today."

She was speechless at first. "My abdomen has been hurting me all day."

"You're so noble, Bonnie. But your body betrays you. Just like it did at the Festival. You want me."

"Doesn't mean I have to have you."

"True."

"And it's not just me. You're too hurt to do what you're thinking about doing. I don't wanna set you back."

"I told you: no one's gonna tell me how hurt I am. I know what I can do and what I can't, and I can do you."

She couldn't help but smile, flattered by how persistent he was in his desire for her. She stepped back from him to pick up her phone and keys, and she left the spot.

She wasn't sure where she was going. She wasn't heading to the car. She didn't set off with any plans to sleep with him. There was her impending situation, and she was worried about his health. But she walked, and the wolf prowled behind her, waiting for her next move while he kept track of their path.

Eventually, she came upon a clearing, the ground made of the same beige-brown dirt and pine, though the pine here was voluminous enough to cover the dirt completely. It was a large clearing. Perfect for spell work.

She decided that this was where she would cast her protection spell, surrounded by medium-sized trees, with the water nearby.

She decided, too, that she wanted him to be a part of it.

She stopped in the middle of the clearing and examined the trees. "Still don't wanna leave?"

Her tone made him promises. He licked his top lip. "No."

Bonnie turned to him and cocked her right hip. "I still have to make sure my situation's okay."

"Your situation doesn't matter to me."

Bonnie's breath rushed out of her, the pulse in her neck quietly speeding up. Sure, he said that now. She set her phone and keys down. She supposed there was no point in asking him to turn around. She turned herself around and lifted her sweater to tuck it under her chin. She undid her pants so that she could pull it and her underwear down. Spotting on the pad. She had judged right this morning and saved her underwear as a result.

She could chance it. It was cold out, but he was hot enough to warm her up. She pulled her pants up and let the sweater fall. Turning to him, she said, "I have. Some."

Tyler licked his lips. "It's fine."

Bonnie took a steady breath. "I still need to work. I need to cast a spell, and I don't even know what it's gonna sound like."

"Right. I'll watch."

"You'll participate. I've never casted a spell while having sex before."

She'd taken a turn at shocking him, and he tried to contain his grin.

"I mean, you _are _saying that you're willing to chance it, right?"

"Absolutely."

The ins and outs of casting the spell solidified in Bonnie's mind as she looked at him. She was going to channel the earth. If werewolves could have an element, that would be it, children of the forests and the mountains. She wanted to channel him, too. And not like she had the night before. She wanted to try something new.

Tyler sped up and grabbed her waist, and she gasped in surprise. "Anything I need to do?" he asked.

She bent her knees and threw her phone and keys to her left. She looked at him when she straightened and said, "Exactly what you wanna do."

Tyler didn't need to hear anything else. He kissed her and undressed her. She stopped him when he was on her underwear, and she walked away to take that off herself. She magically pulled the rest of her clothes and the shoes to her and laid her underwear on top. Hopefully nothing would crawl into it. She took the necklace off last.

She walked back to him, as naked as he was, and she kissed him. He picked her up and laid her down, and they rolled on the pine and erased the hours spent apart with their kisses.

"I missed you," Bonnie confessed breathlessly. "It's weird, because you've been gone less than 24 hours, but-"

"I missed you, too. I couldn't stop thinking about you, wondering how you were feeling, what you were doing. I missed you."

Bonnie smiled and reclaimed his mouth. He was more hard muscle than usual, a sign of his wolfish state. He moved down her body and coddled her chilly nipples in his mouth.

To her nervous surprise, he kept moving down to her belly button. Her right arm twitched, but she decided not to say anything. If he wanted to brave it….Besides, she'd told him to do what he wanted, and she was still curious about the fact that he hadn't changed his eyes back to their beautiful dark brown.

Tyler's body got even hotter in anticipation. He was sure that he wasn't going to get much, but this was the closest he's been to her during her period since prank night. And when he closed his eyes and smelled her cunt, his mouth watered. It wasn't as strong as last time, but considering how long it's been, it was enough to make him stop and appreciate. She was as natural as he was right now, and that attracted him, and he burrowed further into his nature.

He gave her the first orgasm before she thought up any spells.

Her body was shaking, and he opened her legs wider and smelled the mix of lube and the promise of menstruation. Her primer pheromones were embedding themselves in his nostrils. She was aroused and ready for him.

Bonnie pointed her toes in opposite directions and held his head down as he once again partook in what her pussy had to offer. She was moaning and was determined to keep her legs lifted and spread-eagled when she started.

With Tyler sucking on her left labia, she reached down and felt the energy beneath the ground, reached lower and planted roots of her power and felt it connect to that which was rolling under them. She pulled up, and the earth's energy rose above ground and crawled into her body, manifesting in black vines. She moaned as the power explored her body in tandem with Tyler's tongue.

He felt the difference in her, smelled the power that she was holding, and when she told him to bite her, he left her pussy and sank his fangs and canines into her left thigh. His eyes widened, and he pushed her thigh into his mouth, wanting more of the power, more of the mix of hers and the raw element. The blood went straight to his dick. It rolled around his heart, crawled around his head, and pulled seductively at his instincts. She was a creature of Nature, like he was.

Bonnie felt him sucking the power out of her. He was literally taking it as she pulled it up, channeling it right out of her to play with it. She looked down, surprised. This was why she loved being with him. This was why she so often wanted to surrender herself to him, even before they'd ever slept together. He exuded power. He had power. He came the closest to matching her, and their powers weren't even the same. He could surprise her like _this_.

Tyler gulped the blood down. It was even sweeter than in the bathroom, had more of a zing, and it made him restless. He let her thigh go and growled. It was a promise, like the one he'd heard in her voice earlier. He wanted her, and when he was through showing her how much, she wasn't ever going to forget it. He's been wanting her since he'd sensed her closeness after he'd killed Klaus. But he hadn't been strong enough to do anything about it.

"Turn around," he said.

Bonnie turned and got on her knees, and keeping her forehead to the ground. She closed her eyes when he inserted his tongue in her pussy. While he tongue-fucked her, she stretched her arms in front of her and reached for her magic inside of his body. It took some time, she was rocking back and fucking his tongue by the time it happened, but eventually she latched onto it and was able to, in effect, channel herself. Tyler removed his tongue when he felt her inside of him. His pupils dilated. Witch. The only one who can match him. He wanted her to take what she wanted and leave him nothing, if she so chose. He wanted to bear the brunt of her potential. He wanted her savagery. He stuck his tongue in and fucked her faster.

"Mmmm." Bonnie curled her toes as his tongue scissored perfectly in and out of her. Connecting to her magic allowed her to connect to his power, and she felt her whole body heal, aches that she didn't know she had, weakened cells that she couldn't see, they all healed. The wound on her thigh healed. Her mouth fell open at the abundance of his healing power.

Her spells couldn't heal him, but the earth could, and Tyler regained all of his strength.

"_Lunae mox futurae, cum puer essem. Illam Terra parens quo pervenire, cum puer essem. Tellus sum puer. Et da mihi fidem tuam. Illam Terra parens, puer, ego, da mihi fidem tuam._"

Tyler recognized the moon in her spell and moved down to lick her clit.

Bonnie thought of another one, meant to help her figure out Silas' secrets. "_Quid tenebrarum veniat. Quaesitum, inveniam. _Mmmm_._"

She lifted onto her hands and ground her pussy in his face. He purred and put a strong hold on her thighs. He lifted his head and got her on her back. He spread her legs and went back in.

"Mmmm, yes. Yes, Tyler," she moaned, her hand on his head. "Yes." She looked down at him, devoted to his task, and she smiled.

"_Fiat voluntas quidem moveri, et succendatur, et intumescunt stomachum suum._"

Tyler felt this particular spell close around him. He wasn't alarmed. She would cast no spell that would harm him. He ate her pussy, undisturbed until he felt his desire swell to the point of overpowering his mind. He grinned against her cunt. He could play, too.

When Bonnie got close to her orgasm, she spoke from her heart. She wanted it to last. She wanted to make it so that they cried from wanting to come so much. Grinding against his mouth, she chanted, "_Surrexit ergo, et potestates: alligabis verba illa: adolebitque longa desideria nostra, et adoleret fortes, longo succendetur, et adoleret forti, donec loquar sermones ad nos derivetur._"

He kept eating, but she didn't come, and oh that fragile foundation on which she stood, ready to tumble into orgasm but unable to, oh it was so sweet. She ground her hips, but still completion eluded her. Tyler didn't notice her state yet, though he'd felt this spell bind to him, too. He was pursuing something of his own. He left her clit and loomed over her. Bonnie ran her hands down his solid chest while he raked in her power-stripped body. He lowered his head to the left side of her neck and fed on her. Bonnie arched into him and wrapped her legs around his waist, her mouth falling open as his werewolf powers allowed him to pull the power from her blood.

Tyler entered her, and the act provided him some release for the increased desire that her first spell had caused him. He fucked her while he fed, his mind hazy from the triple whammy of blood, power, and pussy.

Bonnie squeezed his ass and grunted with every stiff thrust of his forceful hips. "_Eorum-votis-esse- inane. Per-terram-iter-caesis-angustans-fortis. _Oh-God-yes."

She channeled the power in his body and healed her neck. Cut off, Tyler emitted a low growl by her ear. But it was time for him to replenish the blood that she was losing anyway, especially since he didn't want to stop fucking any time soon.

"Come here," he gruffed as he pulled his dick out. He put a hand behind her neck and sat her up. He bit the wrist of the other hand and sat on his calves. Bonnie grabbed the wrist with both hands and put it to her mouth. Channeling him was one thing, but having his blood seep into her body while she was channeling the earth, having the element coming into her from two different points now, with his own power added to it: tasting magic in his blood was more real now than it had been in the bathroom. She brought his hand closer and took more, as if she needed it for sustenance. Tyler got on his knees and held her head to his wrist, pleased and satisfied by how she was gorging herself on something so vital to his survival. Bonnie reached one of her hands down and channeled his dick severely, and he reflexively tightened the hold that he had on her head. He humped his dick into her hand. It felt like she was pulling his power out, which, in his current state, felt like she was trying to pull a crippling orgasm out of him. But he wasn't orgasming.

He bit his wrist again, and Bonnie pulled it down to her mouth before he could offer. He grinned. And now he accomplished his purpose: he didn't want a tease, he didn't want a hint or a reminder. He wanted the whole thing. The hand on her head connected him to her body, no spells or element needed. She was a living animal, and he therefore he had dominion over her. Closing his eyes was easy, since she was making him feel so damn good. He connected, his first time using this aspect of his powers, and the effect was debilitating. She was a witch, with a lot of active powers currently flowing through her, including his own, and on top of that he was bonded to her. The feeling was so potent that his grasp of the connection slipped, but he re-established it. He channeled his focus on the current state of her body, and looped his powers around her cycle. She was close enough for him to be able to influence the process in the direction that he wanted.

His wrist healed, so Bonnie left it and added her mouth to his dick, keeping her magical hold on it while she sucked the head. She was mostly sure that he wouldn't mind her bloody mouth on him, and she was right, because he groaned and the tight hold on her head turned into a soft, encouraging open palm. She felt a new presence in her body, and she figured that it was him, so she didn't react. She was interested in whatever he was going to do next. She rolled her neck while she pampered him. The added blood didn't make him taste any different. She couldn't taste the magic in the blood anymore now that it was no longer a steady flow directly from his body. It was just good Tyler blood.

She felt a dull pain in her vagina that echoed in her tailbone, but she ignored it because she had a guy who was almost a full head taller than her cursing and croaking because of how she was using her mouth.

Tyler pulled his dick from her mouth and her hand and hung his head back, his member bobbing up and down of its own accord because of the unbelievable remnants of her channeling. He laid her down by pulling her ponytail back. He put his hand on her pelvis, and she felt the pain again, but this time she also felt something slowly leak out of her. She lifted her head, and he looked at her from beneath his lashes. Tyler placed his hands under her butt and lifted her lower half, forcing her to lay her shoulders back down. But it allowed Bonnie a better view of her vulva.

Her heart throbbed against her ribcage, and her stomach swam. It wasn't much, but she saw a peek of the blood. Shocked and more than a little excited, she looked up at him. His smile shouted how much he coveted her. She had no idea why he was doing _this_ of all things, but it was new and something she hadn't known before, and he seemed to be enjoying it, and it felt good, so she was loving it. She loved being under his power. It held a certain thrill.

Tyler turned the wheel of her cycle, and the pain resumed and increased, and her vagina pulsated in response. She usually got horny on the first day of her period, so she experienced this now. Her need for him amplified, and when she locked heavy-lidded eyes with him, she realized from the look on his face that he was the cause of this, too. It wasn't simply the spell she'd cast. _He_ was using his power to increase her arousal.

"God, Tyler." Watching the blood slowly pool out of her, knowing that he was doing it, turned her on immensely. "Please." She wiggled her toes as the combination of pleasure and dull, insistent pain mingled in her body. "_Phasmatos salvis. Nemo malum transiens, ne perveniat iniuria mea._ Oh God." She lay her head down and rolled her feet at the ankles.

Tyler set her butt down and disconnected from her body. He crossed her right leg over the left, and Bonnie got that he wanted her to turn around. She got on all fours, and she was exhilarated by how open she was to him, especially considering her vagina was bloody.

The new position abated her cramps. Tyler put his face close to her pussy and inhaled deeply. It was perfect. Just like last time. Fucking perfect. He straightened and grabbed his cock. Sliding into her was an experience. She was slick from lube and blood, and part of his dick was bloody from her blowjob, but her aching vagina tried to squeeze him out every step of the way.

"Oh shit. Oh yes, oh shit, oh my G-Yes. Mmmm." It was like she was feeling every inch of him as he went through, and he went excruciatingly slow. Once she was fully stuffed and once he started stroking, her cramps all but disappeared.

He wasted no time before increasing his thrusts, in speed and in force. He wasn't going to come yet, so he tortured himself with the feel of her pussy. He planted one foot on the ground and kept a sturdy hold on her hips. "_Shit_. _God_. Goddamn, you feel good."

She was so good that Tyler experienced an upsurge of energy and roared. He bared his teeth and roared and roared, and the loud noise shocked Bonnie, which made the geo magic skitter inside of her, and she trembled. She fucked him right back, throwing her pussy at him. Tyler's roars reached a three-mile radius, and animals that could fly, flew, those that crawled, crawled, and those that skittered, skittered. His message was direct, succinct, and left no room for interpretation: this space belonged to them, to her. No other lifeforms could stay here. Leaves from the trees that surrounded the clearing detached and fell as birds of gray-brown-white color headed outside of the boundary that he'd set.

He connected to her body again and pushed more blood out of her pussy. He looked down, and his dick was wonderfully coated dark brown, almost black, with only a few peeks of red. As he stroke in and out, she released some dark blood clots, but he didn't give a shit. The smell was all around him. He wanted more of all of it.

Bonnie slammed her ass against his powerful pelvis, wanting more of his cock. Her cramps were back, dull and insistent, and she was suffering from her spell again, wanting to come, _ready _to come, but unable to until the time when she would release both of them.

Their lovemaking became manic, Bonnie all but hysterical as she returned his fuck. It was all he could do to keep her hips steady. He gave her some room to maneuver, to lift her hips and disturb the rhythm as she pleased, but he always brought her back and kept her still in intervals. Bonnie's body was singing from magic, blood, and dick. Tyler wanted to fuck her until she couldn't move after. He moved one hand from her hip to her shoulder and pounded.

They fucked with abandon, her body belonging to him, his body belonging to her, and when she reached in and channeled him again, Tyler threw his head back and roared, his lips and teeth red with her blood. She worked her spells and fucked him while he availed himself to her cunt.

"_Phasmatos salvis! Circulum detentio mea!_"

"_Surrexit ergo, et redde mihi nunc fortitudinem potestatum!"_

He lifted onto his other foot and fucked her in a squat. The change in angle put a tiny pin in the orgasm rummaging through their bodies, and Bonnie crossed her feet at the ankles and took the fuck. They were noisy and uninhibited, witch and Hybrid, much more than human. They made the kind of scene that would've had the unknowing running to civilisation and screaming for their deaths, spreading fear that would lead to the hunting of both of their kind. _I swear I saw it, with my own eyes. She spoke a strange tongue, the devil's tongue, and he the devil's agent. He was a beast, I tell you; he certainly roared like one. Did you not hear? I fear what might befall me for witnessing it! No human woman could handle him, no human man would dare touch her!_

"Take what you need!" he half begged and half commanded, his voice coarse.

"You fucking take what you need!" she cried, her tits slinging back and forth. She was desperate for more of him. She channeled him and the earth on autopilot now. Her brain couldn't handle it. She didn't want to focus on anything that wasn't him on and in her body.

Tyler hollered and changed their position. He couldn't take it. A coherent thought that wasn't her was simply beyond his reach. He hunkered over her, and she lowered her upper body to the ground and balled her hands into fists, her forehead on the ground. She uncrossed her ankles and spread her knees wide, the globes of her ass pointed and seductive, her hips finally still. He bared his sharp claws and planted them in the ground on either side of her head. The sinewy muscles in his legs flexed as he used his weight to fuck them into oblivion. Histeria built in Bonnie again as her orgasm came back stronger and even more ready, and she raised onto her elbows and hooted through puckered lips. Tyler was beyond ready, but he was not going to beg her to let him come. He would ride this out for as long as she wanted. It wasn't a bad ride at all. His balls were full and stiff, his cock rock-hard and fucking sensitive, his thrusts frenetic and obsessed.

The magic honed in on his prostate and her G-spot, and Bonnie couldn't bear to withstand what would happen if she resisted past this point. It was like Nature Herself needed release now, so She pushed down where it counted for both. Bonnie had no idea where she pulled the spell from or what she was saying when she released them.

"_Nullus hominum domare potest cupere! Sit passionibus opprimetur! Dabo ei, dedit mihi Exsoluamus ut numquam ante!_"

Their passion started to overflow on the second phrase. Tyler yelled as the pressure on his prostate increased, and he had a meltdown in her cunt. Bonnie's voice trembled through the rest of the spell, which made it take longer for her to complete it. Her legs were shaking beyond her control, and the ground shook with them, and she sprayed her come, his dick and the magic milking spurt after spurt, her urethra shooting out her ejaculation, her toes curled and feet lifted off the ground. The orgasm overwhelmed them and both stopped moving as they reaped what Bonnie had sown. Tyler bit her left shoulder in his feverish peak, and the blood intensified his orgasm, and he yelled around her flesh. Bonnie's eyes rolled, and she sprayed her come again. Her thighs stiffened, then her legs, and they slowly straightened of their own accord, and she just as slowly buckled under her own weight, a loud steady aria going up her vocal chords. Tyler's dick was pulled out of her pussy when she went down and it stayed suspended, and he remained arthritic and loud and experienced the most thorough orgasm of his life as the ground moved under him.

* * *

**Round 2, next chapter? Round 2, next chapter. Hope you all are alright :)**


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